Exam help for 70 000 matrics
Final push to get good final results
Sibusiso Mahamba hopes to be the first person to go through university in his family.
The 17-year-old Grade 12 pupil at Phandimfundo Secondary School in Etwatwa, Ekurhuleni, is one of 70000 pupils in Gauteng who are part of the Secondary School Improvement Programme (SSIP).
Sibusiso hopes that the programme will help him get good results and enable him to apply for a bursary.
“This is a final push by [the] Gauteng department of education to help us prepare for [our] finals. I believe that through this programme I will be able to get good results and apply for [a] bursary to study BCom economics next year.”
Matriculants across the country have 19 days until they start writing their final exams.
Provincial education MEC Panyaza Lesufi visited different SSIP camps yesterday. The department plans to achieve a 93% pass rate this year.
Senior manager for school support, Vincent Zulu, said SSIP was supplementary tuition across the province. “We have about 160 walk-in camps and 17 residential camps. We have recruited expert educators to close content gaps. The programme started on October 1 and will run till October 21.”
Pupils were excited about the programme as it made it easier for them to prepare for the exams.
Palesa Motshoari, 16, a Grade 12 pupil at HB Nyati Secondary School, said they don’t get time to study during school hours. “I had difficulties with maths and physics and through this programme I am able to understand the two subjects better.”
Xolani Shabangu, 17, a matriculant at Dr Harry Gwala, said he had no means to download past exam papers and was happy to have access to the question papers.
“We are able to get previous exam question papers and memos. I had difficulties with business studies but SSIP is making things easier for me.”
Meisie van Heerden, 18, from Rivoni Secondary, said the programme was helpful and they got information from different teachers. “It is going to improve our marks.”
HB Nyati Secondary School principal, Agatha Mahlase, said SSIP complements what educators had already done.
Lesufi urged pupils to use their time wisely. “You have great opportunities, don’t spoil them by bringing babies and smoking nyaope. You are a generation that will make this country proud,” he said.