The Big Read: The quiet revolution of Principal Felix

To professor Jansen: Compliments of the season. The good news is that of improvement in the quality of results. Out of 138 pupils that sat the examinations, 108 obtained [university exemption], 9 of them got As in all the seven subjects. Of the 246 distinctions in all subjects, 21 were for maths and 19 for science.

The overall percentage remains at 100. As a school we sincerely owe the professor. That motivation really elevated us. God bless you for your contribution to the nation.

Regards

Mshololo Felix

Menzi High School principal

Until you meet Principal Felix Mshololo you have no idea what it means to lead a school in difficult circumstances.

The long and steep Mangosuthu Buthelezi highway in Umlazi has many roads running into and out of it. This must be one of the most dangerous speedways in South Africa. Taxis come screaming down the busy highway, dodging people scampering across the road, treating the few traffic lights as a broad suggestion, and flying over speed bumps as if that is what the words mean - speed over the bumps. When I served as administrator of the local university with campus sites on each side of this highway, I called in the taxi bosses to discuss how we could ensure the safety of students along this dangerous stretch of road. I might as well have asked the Mafia to abandon the cement business.

Then, coming up the highway from the direction of the old airport, off one of those roads without names, you turn right and right again and there, on a little hill overlooking the green valleys of Durban, you find an unimpressive building called Menzi High School.

It is dark brown in colour; there is an uncompleted building on site; the main entrance looks like it could lead to a shebeen; and you find parking in the sand. Having just arrived from Kloof, where I had seen one of the most impressive school grounds in the world, my stomach turned once again as I wrestled with the stark inequalities in our land.

But there were promising signs. There were no children outside the classrooms. As I walked past the classes there was the constant buzz of teachers teaching and pupils participating. The principal seemed to know every pupil by name and which one was related to another. He commanded respect as he opened a few doors to introduce me to the teacher and class of high school children.

Though the school was in desperate need of a massive injection of state funding to upgrade the buildings and install decent science laboratories, Felix Mshololo was focused on the positive - such as the uncompleted building for which he had found private funding to build computer laboratories.

What had brought me to the school was a television report at the beginning of 2013 in which a young Menzi High matriculant was featured for having achieved seven distinctions but not having funds for university study. I found her number and we flew her to Bloemfontein to begin her studies towards becoming a chartered accountant.

Zandile Kwela has now finished first year and has continued achieving distinctions in her accounting studies, proving that the quality of teaching and depth of learning achieved at Menzi High School has durable results. This is an important sign given the high rate of dropouts among first-year students.

When Zandi, as we call her, obtains her degree, she will be able to lift her entire family from their small shack perched precariously on the side of one of those many undulating hills of the beautiful KwaZulu-Natal landscape, and bring joy to her single mother and inspiration to her siblings also to do well in their studies.

And the reason for her success is Principal Mshololo, and his band of highly committed teachers.

What is striking is that for Principal Mshololo the question of passing is of little interest. He knows it is "the quality of results" that will make a difference in the lives of poor pupils at his school.

So imagine my joy when the principal sent me the e-mail above a few days ago, for I know that through one man's leadership every year there are whole domestic economies being changed as the pupils of Menzi graduate from high school and from university with top marks.

South Africa owes this quiet, unassuming man a huge debt of gratitude.