National initiative helps rural teen realise dream
AFTER having lost her mother to cancer at a very young age, going to university was a distant dream for Tsholomnqa-born Athini Mqolora.
However, Athini has defied the odds and is on her way to becoming an oncologist. The 17-year-old who grew up in Mbekweni village near Mdantsane, matriculated at Wongalethu High School last year and was named the top pupil in the Engen Maths and Science School (EMSS).
EMSS is a national initiative that addresses key skills shortages in the engineering and technical fields by providing after hours mathematics and science classes to Grade 10 to 12 pupils who show an advanced aptitude in these subjects.
Athini achieved an impressive overall average of 88% in matric, with distinctions English.
She is now doing her first year in medicine at the University of Cape Town (UCT) through a bursary funded by the Patrice Motsepe Foundation.
“Chances of going to university are already slim when growing up in a rural village. Mine was even slimmer by the fact that my mother was not around,” said Athini.
The teenager lost both her mother and her aunt to cancer. Her mother died in 2007, leaving seven-year-old Athini to be raised by her aunt, a pensioner.
She was selected for the EMSS programme when she was in grade 10 after passing an aptitude test.
In 2016, 1 881 pupils participated in EMSS classes, of which 586 wrote the grade 12 National Senior Certificate exams.
Athini in was maths, named science and the Eastern Cape top achiever and was placed in joint third nationally in the EMSS programme.
Engen’s corporate social investment manager, Mntu Nduvane said the the majority of schools supported by EMSS are the typical “no fee” schools in disadvantaged communities, which are often faced with an assortment of challenges. —