Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Accolades for W Cape’s finest
Top scorer in technical mathematics glad he put in the extra effort
LUVUYO means “joy” and that is what 18-year-old Luvuyo Motimani felt when he was invited to the premier’s official residence for the annual National Senior Certificate Awards this week.
The pupil from Bellville Technical High School in Kuils River achieved 86%, the highest marks in the province for technical mathematics.
Motimani is the only pupil from his school who was invited to the awards ceremony.
“I was really surprised because my September results were not that good. This is a nice certificate. I am going to enlarge it and laminate it,” he said.
Motimani is an only child and the family lives in Khayelitsha, which meant it had sometimes been challenging for him to get to school.
“Technical maths is my favourite subject and I am really glad I put in the extra effort because the results were worth it,” said Motimani.
The teen has been accepted to study mechanical engineering at CPUT. “My parents always taught me to be independent and that is exactly what I plan to be,” he said.
Motimani was thrilled to be among the top achievers in the province and for the opportunity to rub shoulders with his “bright” peers.
The top achiever in the province and the country, Justine Crook Mansour, said she was surprised by her performance.
“I was in England when I received a call to say that I must come home and that I am expected in Johannesburg for the National Senior Certificate awards ceremony.
“I only found out when I was on stage that I was the top learner in the country,” she said.
Her advice to the class of 2019 was to start as early as possible.
“Just pace yourself, don’t leave it till the last moment. I still kept up with all my sports because you also need balance.”
Crook Mansour has been accepted to study astrophysics at UCT this year.
Masibambisane High School in Delft also received special mention for the huge improvement in the matric pass rate. In 2017, the school was classified as underperforming, with a rate of just 48%.
Things turned around quickly and it managed a 79.1% pass rate last year and doubled its bachelor passes.
Langa High also managed to improve its pass rate from 49.7% in 2017 to 78% last year.
Seventy schools in the province achieved a 100% pass rate, 137 achieved 90% or above and 31 achieved a 90% bachelor pass rate.
The Western Cape increased its bachelor passes by 3.2% from 2017 to 42.3% last year.
The Western Cape achieved the highest pass rate in mathematics, increasing from 73.9% in 2017 to 76% last year.
In physical science, the Western Cape achieved a pass rate of 79.5%, up from 72% in 2017.
Rhenish Girls High School achieved a 100% pass rate and 100% bachelor passes and is the top school in the province.
“This year we not only celebrate that our indicators of quality show a sustained improvement in the Western Cape,” said Western Cape Education Minister Debbie Schäfer.
She told attendees at the ceremony that she almost cried when she read through some of the nominations for the Ministerial Awards, given to pupils who despite tremendous odds rise to the top.
Special tribute was paid to Keisha Ruiters from Hoerskool Marian RC, who wrote her final exams while dying of leukaemia. She wrote her last exam on November 26 and died on December 4, achieving a bachelor pass with a 71.6 average.