Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Principal receives best retirement gift
THE legendary principal of Spine Road High School in Mitchells Plain, Riyaad Najaar, has hailed the 100% pass rate of his 2017 matric class as the best present to receive for his retirement at the end of this month.
As the 198 pupils cheered with delight at their achievement, Najaar said he was extremely proud that they were the only township school to achieve a 100% pass rate in the Western Cape.
He attributed their success to the hard work of teachers and pupils and the support of parents. With 80% bachelor passes and eight pupils attaining A aggregates, 168 pupils have been accepted to study at tertiary institutions.
“We also did exceptionally well in pure maths with a 100% pass rate. And we are one of the few schools with the most number of pupils, 90, doing pure maths. It is an achievement we are extremely proud of and a great going away present for me after 25 years at the school,” said Najaar.
Top pupil with a 90% aggregate, La’eeqa Martin, 17, from Portlands said the extra push she received from those around her “overflowed not only on to my academics but on to myself. It definitely made the year special”. “I am planning on studying Bachelor of Science at UCT, majoring in genetics,” said a beaming La’eeqa.
Classmate Zubair Roroick who hopes to studying information systems at UWC, said: “I’m speechless.”
At Cedar High School, also in Mitchells Plain, the top pupil was Chad Hamner, who obtained an 81% aggregate. He will be studying law at Stellenbosch University.
The arts plays an integral part of the school curriculum, said teacher Michael Thomas, and of the 170 pupils who sat exams, nine took music, 45 dramatic arts, 17 design, 14 dance and 18 visual arts. The pass rate was 76% which was an improvement on 2016.
Principal David Charles said the results were what teachers expected and it was his belief that they would continue to improve despite of the social challenges faced by pupils such as gang violence in their neighbourhoods.
At the Centre of Science and Technology in Khayelitsha, principal Phadiela Cooper was counselling some of the seven students who failed the exams, and who would be sitting supplementary exams in maths, physics or IT.
She said the pass rate was 93.4%, down from 96.4% last year. “We are happy but not entirely happy and are already planning on working very hard to get that 100% pass rate this year,” said Cooper.
At Oscar Mpetha High in Nyanga East, where exams were disrupted after a promising pupil Luthando Mbashe was stabbed to death, principal AK Matebe said the pass rate was 64.2%, a drop of 3% which was not what the staff had expected.
Of the 162 pupils who sat the exams, 104 passed and 58 failed and teachers were ecstatic that there was an improvement in the number of bachelor passes and diploma passes although there was a drop in the number of senior certificate passes.