Parktown Boys’ High leads the way in bumper crop of As
Gauteng matrics delivered a bumper crop of distinctions and university entry passes this year.
Parktown Boys’ High School National Senior Certificate (NSC) matriculants brought home 157 distinctions between them, with only three pupils accounting for 37 of those.
Moein Elzubar gained 10 distinctions, while Mohamed Essop, Ihtishaam Adam, and Muhammed Wadee each achieved nine distinctions.
Overall, the school’s pupils achieved a 98% pass rate of which 92% were eligible to study at a university.
The Abbotts College Northcliff class of 2018 achieved a 100% percent pass rate with 73% bachelor passes.
The school’s top student was Wandile Madi with six distinctions. Kiara Braum, Katlego Moletsane, Jana Terblanche and Leopold Thiao each managed five distinctions.
At Greenside High School, a top feeder for Wits University, Tinotenda Mudzingwa and Joshua Trace gained eight distinctions each while Muneerah Cajee, Farhaan Amod and Raeesa Harypursat brought home seven distinctions apiece.
At Abbotts College in Centurion, Saalimah Joosub cracked six distinctions, while Ernst Bester, Steven Mijiga, and Jonelda Swart achieved five each.
“I want to take this opportunity to commend all the role players, starting with MEC Panyaza Lesufi,” said Gauteng Premier David Makhura yesterday.
“I’ve always said we were waiting for the day there would be evidence, we were just waiting for evidence that our MEC is the best MEC for education in South Africa.
“This [the 2018 matric results] is the evidence. We were not too impatient, we were gathering evidence.”
Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced on Thursday that Gauteng was the top performing province in the 2018 academic year.
Motshekga made the announcement of the 2018 NSC results on Thursday evening in Midrand.
Gauteng achieved a 87.9% pass rate, with the Free State a close second at with 87.5%. The Western Cape was third with North West fourth.
The national matric pass rate is 78.2% with progressed pupils included, an improvement of 3.1% on the 75.1% of the previous year.
Tshwane mayor Solly Msimanga paid tribute to the Class of 2018 – particularly the ones situated in the townships who have shown great “resilience”.
“I want to take my hat off to teachers and principals. Those are the people working in the public sector that get blamed for everything that goes wrong, but when things go right nobody ever acknowledges the work that they do.
“So, to the principals, teachers and support staff out there – I salute you,” said Msimanga to resounding applause.
Motshekga and her spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga were also present at the Gauteng awards ceremony hosted at the University of South Africa (Unisa).