Two special-needs matric pupils among top achievers

13 January 2025 - 12:07 By Vicky Abraham and Ntokozo Abraham
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Top achiever Given Malaka, who hails from the small village of Ga-Malaka in Limpopo, is among the 259 pupils from Setotolwane Elsen Secondary School who were taught in dilapidated mobile classrooms.
Top achiever Given Malaka, who hails from the small village of Ga-Malaka in Limpopo, is among the 259 pupils from Setotolwane Elsen Secondary School who were taught in dilapidated mobile classrooms.
Image: Supplied

An 18-year-old partially blind pupil from Setotolwane Elsen Secondary School in Limpopo is among the national top matric achievers in special schools. This is despite writing his 2024 final matric exams in a classroom with holes in the floor and a ceiling with exposed electrical wires.

Given Malaka, who hails from a small village called Ga-Malaka, is among the 259 pupils from Setotolwane Elsen who were taught in dilapidated mobile classrooms. Some of the classrooms and the dormitories had no doors. The school water challenges led to Given, his peers and staff fetching water for drinking, washing hands and flushing toilets from a pipe at a nearby cemetery when the water tanks and the single tap used by the entire school dried out. Toilet seats were also broken.

However, Given did not allow such conditions to deter him from excelling in his studies.

“Studying in such an environment was stressful,” he said two days before the minister of basic education Siviwe Gwarube announced the 2024 top matric achievers at Mosaïek in Randburg, Gauteng.

“It was tiring for me to fetch water with buckets. It was affecting my muscles. By the time I was about to study, I was tired.”

Though Given is a top achiever, he is not yet sure about the marks he scored or the position he has attained.

“I am not excited, I am just OK,” said Given, who hopes to study law at the University of Limpopo but is still awaiting feedback from the institution.

Given is the first in the family and at Ga-Malaka village to receive a top achiever’s award and to dine with the minister. He and his brothers are royal and the village is named after their family.

His older brother Tshepo, 33, said: “We are four boys in the family and we have all gone to university, but none of us got this far. The family is excited about his achievement. We believe the village will also be excited when they see him on TV because no-one in our village has ever achieved this. He has made us proud.”

Tshepo said Given began losing his vision at the age of five.

“He was born seeing but he started having problems with his vision at the age of five. So far, one of his eyes cannot see completely but the other side can partially see.”

Sisipho Danisa who studied at the North West Secondary School for the Deaf is the first in her family to pass matric and pursue a university degree.
Sisipho Danisa who studied at the North West Secondary School for the Deaf is the first in her family to pass matric and pursue a university degree.
Image: Supplied

Meanwhile, far from Limpopo, a family in Tsakane in Gauteng is also rejoicing over their 17-year-old deaf daughter’s achievement, who is among the top 2024 provincial achievers in the North West.

Sisipho Danisa, who studied at North West Secondary School for the Deaf, is the first in her family to pass matric and pursue a university degree.

Her mother Khanyisa said: “No-one in the family has passed matric, she is the first to excel. We are happy. She is a good child and very focused and does not give us problems with umjolo [dating].”

Sisipho said: “I knew I would pass. I expected it. I was not worried about my results. At first I wanted to be a doctor but I'm doing commerce subjects. So I have decided to be a lawyer because I do not have a choice. I want to study law and business management at the University of Free State because I heard it has a union for the deaf and there is an interpreter. It is good for learning and there is no pressure for deaf people.”

TimesLIVE


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