Pupil beats the odds and excels
“THE HARDER the struggle, the more glorious the triumph.”
Attributed to the 20th-century Indian Hindu spiritual leader Swami Sivananda, this quote perfectly describes Nkosinathi Nkabinde, a matriculant from Daveyton in Ekurhuleni who overcame adversity to achieve eight distinctions in matric last year.
Raised by his dad after his mom died 10 years ago when he was only seven, Nkosinathi achieved distinctions in isiZulu, English, maths, physical science, life sciences, business studies, religious studies and life orientation.
What makes his achievement even more amazing is that Nkosinathi plays a major role at home, where he helps to take care of his 12-yearold brother and seven-year-old nephew, whose father, Nkosinathi’s older brother, is in prison.
Nkosinathi, who was a pupil at Unity High School in Daveyton, said he had had to make major sacrifices to create a balance between excelling at school and his household responsibilities.
“I would usually wake up at about 5am to give myself enough time to iron school clothes for the kids, as well as preparing their breakfast and school lunch.
“Then I would also go to school to attend my classes, which began at 7am,” the 17-year-old said. “I never had time to socialise, including on weekends, because I still had a lot of work to do.
“When there was work I had not completed during the week, I would complete it on Saturday. I also attended Saturday and Sunday classes at school.”
Nkosinathi acknowledged that growing up without a mother was difficult for him, and that she would have been able to assist him with a lot of the household work.
“But I have never blamed my mother, because she didn’t choose to die. My tough upbringing was a big motivation to me because I wanted to be a role-model to my younger brother and nephew,” he said.
“When I eventually succeed, I want them to see that it is possible for them to also succeed.”
Hoping for a bursary, Nkosinathi wants to pursue a degree in chemical engineering this year. He has been accepted at the University of Pretoria and UCT, and provisionally accepted at Wits University, which he would like to attend because of its proximity to his hometown.
Nkosinathi said he had thoroughly enjoyed chemistry classes at school, especially the practical experiments he had to do.
“I really loved the mixing of chemicals, trying to figure out what the end product of the experiment would be, and how this would help us as humans.
“This is something that also applies to chemical engineering, where I’ll be exposed to people who manufacture petrol, for example,” he said.
His father, Gift Nkabinde, was over the moon with his son’s achievement. “Nkosinathi never did anything major that gave me problems, he is a good son,” he said.
Nkosinathi was invited to the Gauteng Department of Education’s results announcement today, where he was in line to receive an award from MEC Panyaza Lesufi.
He credits the teachers at his school for his success, saying they were dedicated and passionate in their work. He moved to Unity High School in Grade 11 from another school in Daveyton, saying the school’s reputation for producing great results was the reason he went there.
Unity’s principal, Wandile Makhubu, was proud that the school had achieved a 96.3% pass rate, with 51% of its Grade 12s achieving a Bachelor’s pass.
Makhubu said Nkosinathi’s achievement was even more special because he sometimes assisted his classmates in maths, science and English.