Persistence and loads of support gets top matric achievers to their goals

04 January 2017 - 11:46 By Roxanne Henderson
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Two top matric achievers have proven that it takes a village to raise a child‚ crediting their families‚ classmates‚ schools and communities with their success.

Siphokazi Hlalukana‚ 17‚ and Anastacia Mkhondo‚ 18‚ have both travelled to Johannesburg from their hometowns to meet with Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga at a breakfast on Wednesday‚ ahead of her matric results announcement.

Hlalukana from Ncise in Mthatha‚ Eastern Cape‚ said she was nervous about the “the lights‚ the cameras and the interviews” she was preparing to conduct‚ but that she was excited to receive her results.

Looking back at her matric year‚ the teen said: “It was very tiring. We had to work hard. We had to sacrifice a lot of things. We had to focus on reaching our goals. You also had to be persistent. It is about being able to say no to things you like and things you want to do because you need to put your studies first."

Speaking of her support system‚ she identified her school and her mother as key roleplayers.

“My school was focused on helping us succeed. They had winter classes‚ spring classes‚ afternoon classes‚ night classes and Saturday classes.”

Holy Cross High School arranged transport for Hlalukana and her peers to attend their evening and weekend lessons.

Hlalukana‚ who will study Applied Maths at the University of Pretoria‚ thanked her mother: “She has been there for me‚ supported me and motivated me. She made sure I was the best I could be.”

Mkhondo‚ from Taung Village‚ outside Burgersfort in Limpopo‚ also said she could not have achieved her top marks on her own.

“It was difficult. It's due to organisations and people that I'm here today. I'm grateful for their help.”

The teen from Mmiditsi Senior Secondary School said the Mining Qualifications Authority provided her with Maths and Science lessons and free food.

She also thanked the Transnet Teenage Health Programme for their intervention. “They came to my school while I was in Grade 10 in 2014. They gave us dignity packs (sanitary pads) and taught us how to be better versions of ourselves. They taught us about confidence.”

There were some bumps along Mkhondo's journey to success last year.

“The most difficult thing was losing our Maths teacher in June. He resigned and we had to be without a Maths teacher for a couple of months.”

Mkhondo got a new Maths teacher in time for her final exams and will use her excellent marks to study a BSc in Computer Science at the University of Cape Town or the University of the Witwatersrand.

Top-achieving students spent two hours rehearsing on Tuesday for the Motshekga's ministerial announcement on Wednesday evening‚ which will be broadcast live at 6pm.

– TMG Digital

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