Bid to win the prestige of a top 10-ranking
IT may be a case of too little too late for a KwaZulu-Natal teenager, who knows she is one of the province’s top 10 matriculants of 2015 — although the education department has yet to confirm this.
Former Greenbury Secondary pupil Rylene Kisten, 17, has received her revised matric marks after a re-adjudication of her exams in six subjects.
Her life sciences score rose from 88% to 95%, and her overall total in her seven subjects from 93.5% to 94.7% — eclipsing the 94.4% achieved by fellow pupil Delano Ramdas, who was placed seventh in the province by the education department.
The initial blunder has robbed the Mount Edgecombe teen of the prestige and perks that went to the top 10 pupils, who received laptops, among other things.
She has asked for premier Senzo Mchunu’s intervention to get her in the top 10 officially, and also reward her.
“It’s a mistake made by the department and I don’t think I should be disadvantaged,” Rylene said. “The hard work I have been putting in throughout my school- ing career should be recognised.”
Rylene, who is studying chemical engineering at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, had her tuition fees reduced by R24 000 by the institution because of her seven distinctions in matric.
She asked for a re-mark after she found her life sciences mark to be “strangely in the 80s”.
In the trial exams, she had scored 99% for life sciences.
“I knew that something was amiss there, so I decided to send NOT FAIR: Rylene Kisten believes she should be in the top 10 of the KwaZulu-Natal matric class of 2015 everything for a re-mark just to be on the safe side.”
The department should take “better care” during the marking process. “It’s really important because it could mean the loss of scholarships and bursaries and even a place at university. They are playing with people’s lives,” Rylene said.
She would be disappointed if the department refused the ac- colade, she said.
At the beginning of the year, before she requested a re-mark, her school presented her with a trophy for being placed 12th in the province.
She has asked Phoenix ward councillor Patrick Pillay to take up her case with Mchunu. He wrote to the premier saying consideration should be given to placing Rylene in the top 10 because her “excellent results will be a motivating factor to others in KwaZulu-Natal”.
He told Mchunu that when Rylene’s father raised the issue with a department official, he was told: “I’m not sure how you got your child’s position of being placed 12th . . . as that information is not given out. Consequently, there will be no reposition of your child’s results.”
The department e-mailed Pillay on Friday to say it had received his letter and the matter was being investigated.