The North West Province should not be complacent about obtaining second position, recording over 80% pass in 288 high schools and the milestone of 78 schools having achieved 10 or more subject distinctions but should aim for the top spot next year, North West Premier Thandi Modise declared at the release of the Provincial 2013 matric results held at Sun City outside Rustenburg on Tuesday. 

“The matric class of 2013 has served as role models for the class of 2014 which should aim to beat the remarkable improvement and record set by the class of 2013,” highlighted Premier Modise in her keynote speech to celebrate improvement of the provincial pass rate from 79, 5% to 87,2%.                                           

“We will do everything in our power to ensure that we attain the goals we set ourselves as the province. We are very proud as the province and we can proudly say that we have provided a conducive environment and resources for efficient teaching and learning to take place,” said Premier Modise in calling for united action to sustain the remarkable improvement and congratulating learners, educators and all stakeholders.

In appealing for education, health and security not to be politicised and conveying gratitude to unions in the education sector for prioritising education of children, Modise said that the class of 2013 had broken racial and gender barriers in the top 20. She highlighted that two of the top 10 learners in the country are from the province. 

The Premier called on business to join the provincial government in awarding bursaries to top performing learners in the province to pursue studies towards being among others Chartered Accountants, Town Planners, Financial experts and Civil and Mining Engineers.

The Office of the Premier has allocated R61 million towards bursaries for top learners in this financial year.

   In congratulating the province, Deputy Minister for Basic Education, Enver Surty said he was very proud for the province’s achievement.

“I stand here with great pride to be the citizen of the province that has done so well. This event is an affirmation of the enormous contribution and achievement which would have not been possible without the enormous support of teachers and all stakeholders,” said adding that the results speak for themselves as no district has achieved less than 80 percent.

 MEC for Basic Education and Training, Mmaphefo Matsemela said she was very pleased with the excellent performance of the 2013 matric class.

“Let us acknowledge that education is one of the priorities of government. We must work together to achieve more out of our collective efforts because education is a societal issue, Our learners must be proud and must not be shy to celebrate their achievement,” said the elated Matsemela.

Matsemela attributed the success to their “Last Push Campaign” and benchmarking against best practices.

Anne-Mari Elizabeth Roux from Potchefstroom Gimnasium was the top candidate in the province for the year 2013. She attributed her success in the examination to early preparation.

“I am very happy and grateful. My recipe for success involved early mornings and early preparation and support from my family especially my mom,” said the elated Anne-Mari Roux.

She wrote 8 subjects and achieved between 93% and 97% in all them with an overall percentage of 94,9. She was followed by Pieter Marx de Villers and Susanna Maria Pohl who obtained 94.6% and 94.4% respectively.

Ngaka Modiri Molema was the top performing district with a pass rate of 90.4%, followed by Bojanala Platinum with a pass rate of 87, 31%, and Dr Kenneth Kaunda with an 86,79% pass rate.

Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati was the most improved district with an improvement of 11,24% to obtain 82,97% pass rate.

Onkgopotse Tiro Comprehensive High School for farm learners in Ngaka Modiri Molema District and BO Seobi High School situated in an informal settlement in Dr Kenneth Kaunda District were among the schools that obtained 100% pass.

The meritorious award for best achievement under extremely challenging circumstances went to Selouna Visser from Ferdinand Postma High School in Potchefstroom. The wheelchair enabled Visser excelled in her studies in spite of living with a spinal muscular atrophy disability.

EDTP Seta pledged R50 000 worth of bursaries to 10 top learners while Kgosi Nyalala Pilane of the Bakgatla Ba Kgafela Traditional Authority and the National Youth Development Agency’s(NYDA) Solomon Mahlangu Scholarship Fund undertook to each award bursaries to 5 learners.

Lesego Leseley Keogatile from Kgononyane High School in Southey near Ganyesa declared the 2013 “freedom candidate” of the year by MEC Matsemela for his outstanding performance under challenging rural condition received a R20 000 bursary from Post Office Speed Services.

He together with Visser and all top 20 learners were presented with trophies, certificates and brand new ipads by the Provincial Department of Education and Training.

Commenting on the results, Cosatu’s North-West Secretary, Solly Phetoe said they were impressive, adding however that more still needs to be done to address challenges related to learners transport, rural allowance and improvement of condition of service for educators and learners. 

“We congratulate all the learners, teachers and all stakeholders including the department of education staff for the role that they played to ensure that the province recorded the highest improvement in the education system in the country,” Phetoe said.-TDN
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