Pearson’s Hanne outshines the rest
PEARSON High School matriculant Hanne Mertens outshone all the stars during an evening of glitz and glamour in East London, claiming the title of top matriculant in the province.
Hanne, 17, from Port Elizabeth, hesitated for a moment as her name was called at the 2016 top matric achievers gala at the East London International Convention Centre last night.
The Summerstrand resident struggled to contain her shock, smiling broadly as she walked to the podium to collect her trophy, certificate and full tertiary education bursary presented to her by Eastern Cape premier Phumulo Masualle.
In an interview afterwards, the petite blonde was visibly flustered and still in shock, blushing with each mention of her accomplishment.
“I have actually never done that well in my whole school career,” she said, giggling nervously.
Hanne said she intended to study chartered accountancy at the University of Stellenbosch.
The key to her success lies in “constantly trying to do the best I can at all times”, she said.
“I saw my marks earlier today, but I’m still in shock because I didn’t realise they were actually that good. My whole family is very happy and they really didn’t expect it either.
“Every year, I just do the best I can and this year was no different – and it worked out really well.
“It’s not that I pushed any harder in matric, I just kept it constant,” Hanne said.
Her father, Jacques, brimming with pride, said: “This just proves you always get what you work for but, as you know, there are always doubts.
“But I think all of these matriculants here tonight have done exceptionally well.
“And they are all so humble about their achievements.
“As top performers, they always tend to protect their expectations. But Hanne really exceeded all of ours.”
Hanne achieved straight As in all eight of her subjects, which included 99% for English, 95% for Afrikaans, 99% for accounting, 96% for mathematics, 95% for life sciences, 98% for physical science, 95% for life orientation and 94% for advanced programme mathematics.
She was not the only matriculant who proudly flew the Nelson Mandela Bay flag at the awards.
Andre Conradie, 18, from Brandwag Hoërskool, scooped the award for the top pupil in the Uitenhage district. He was a joint winner of The Herald Continental Matric of the Year competition.
Fellow Pearson High School pupil Kristen Giddy, 18, claimed the award for top pupil in the Port Elizabeth district.
Tembalake Beja, 17, from Douglas Mbopa High School in Uitenhage and Kana Azola, 20, from Sandisulwa High School in Paterson were in the top 20 in the province under the historically disadvantaged individuals category.
THAT the Eastern Cape is again the worst performer of the 2016 matric class comes as no surprise.
The education crisis in this province is well documented. The problems are historic and deeply systemic.
The end result for many pupils is a tragic, neverending cycle of illiteracy and poverty.
On Wednesday, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced that 59.3% of Eastern Cape matriculants had passed last year.
This is a slight jump from the 56.8% who passed in the previous year.
The marginal increase is either indicative of some effort by authorities to improve the situation or – most likely – a numerical boost from the pockets of excellence that exist in our dysfunctional system.
Either way, it is not enough to change the fortunes of thousands of children who are continuously failed by the system.
No less than five districts in the country which scored less than 50% are in the Eastern Cape. This is no coincidence. It is a reflection of the lack of efficient leadership at different levels of our provincial schooling system.
Add to this the notoriously destructive nature of labour union politics which so often hamper teaching, and the aftermath is disastrous.
Equally disturbing is that 10 000 pupils who registered for matric in our province did not write end-of-year exams, a strong indication of the unacceptably high school dropout rate.
This crisis will not be solved through inept leadership and plans that never see the light of day. We need government, teachers, parents and pupils themselves to commit to doing all that is possible to break this curse.
It begins with cultivating a culture of responsibility, where those who betray the cause are held accountable.
If we do not, we must understand that the consequences will be dire and multigenerational.