Mthokosizi Nkomo, who attended Impiyamandla Secondary School in Etshenilenduna, and Sinakhokonke Siyaya, from Phendukani Secondary School in Newcastle, both in KwaZulu-Natal, are among the valedictorians of the enrolled class of 2022.
Mthokosizi, 18, earned honors in all seven subjects he wrote, taking first place in the national physical sciences category.
Mthokosizi, who plans to study medicine at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said he still couldn’t believe his results, which he achieved despite having to deal with frequent and crippling blackouts by the electric power company Eskom during his last year in the school.
“The only real challenge I faced during my enrolled year was load shedding. It was hard juggling my school work and doing chores because of the power outages,” he said.
Seventeen-year-old Sinakhokonke, who earned eight distinctions in his secondary school final exams, will also earn a medical degree, but at the University of Cape Town.
“When I saw my results, I couldn’t believe I could get 100% in accounting because I had been struggling with it all year. Matric was very hectic for me because of the limited time and having to be at school for seven days,” he said.
Last week, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced that the enrollment class of 2022 achieved a national pass rate of 80.1% in the Higher National Certificate (NSC) exams, an improvement of 3.7 percentage points. compared to 76.4% the previous year.
The chairman of parliament’s holding committee on basic education, Bongiwe Mbinqo-Gigaba, welcomed the marked improvement, saying it was encouraging “especially in the context of the impact of Covid-19 on the teaching and learning experience of the 2022 cohort.” ”.
“These results point to the resilience of the system and the commitment of key stakeholders to ensure success, despite various challenges,” added Mbinqo-Gigaba.
She said the committee welcomed quality assurance body Umalusi’s assurance that the irregularities reported during the exams were not systemic and did not affect the results. The committee has asked for strategies to avoid cheating on future exams.
“The committee has also called for the law to take its course against those who committed indiscretions during the examination process,” he said.
Motshekga noted that he saw improvements in South Africa’s three most rural provinces: KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and the Eastern Cape.
“This kind of consistent and improved performance from our three most rural provinces dispels the myth that quality education is a hallmark of urban provinces,” he said.
