Emmanuel Mashaba and 13 of his classmates have spent the past 45 days sleeping on a hard floor and washing in buckets - all for a good matric pass.
They are so determined to get distinctions in the exams, which start this month, that they have been "squatting" in two dingy rooms near their school hall so that they can study in groups into the early hours.
They have been cramming for 22 hours a day, taking baths in the toilet cubicles because there are no showers at Moses Mnisi High School, in the dusty hamlet of Acornhoek, Mpumalanga. The group have vowed to leave the school premises only after writing their last paper on November 28.
Next Sunday the 14 pupils will be joined by 136 other matrics from the school, who will also stay on site until the exams are over.Deputy principal Vivian Makhubele, a mother of two, has also volunteered to camp out at school for the duration of the exams to motivate her charges. She will sleep on a sponge mattress in the school hall.
When the Sunday Times visited the school at 8pm on Thursday, the pupils were holding group discussions.
"I got level 4 [52%] in life sciences but I know I will get a level 7 pass [distinction] in the final exams. I can promise you that," Mashaba said.
He lives a stone's throw from the school but has not set foot in his home since August 14. He sleeps for two hours a day in a room he shares with six other pupils. Besides three chairs, a desk and blankets, the room is bare.
"The key is group discussions. If you don't understand something, there's always someone in the group to assist you."One of the rules of the group, put up on a piece of paper, is: "As a team we must be united regardless of different points of view. When conflict arises, all members must consider innovative solutions."
Another is: "You must be determined to study until midnight."
Mashaba, a top maths pupil, is one of 10 group leaders chosen by maths and science mentor Thembinkosi Bulunga, a strict disciplinarian, to assist other pupils. One of the leaders' duties is to phone Bulunga every day at 3am, including weekends, to inform him they are studying. If they don't call, they are made to answer a three-hour paper.
Octovious Mashele, 17, also a group leader, said that at some point he thought it was impossible to study for such long hours.
"I thought you can't do that, but I realised it can be done. We only sleep for two hours. We normally go to bed after 12 and then get up at 3am when we update Mr Bulunga."
Mashele is confident of getting distinctions in tourism, English first additional language, Tsonga, economics and business studies. Bathing in a bucket was difficult, he said, but he would reap the benefits of his sacrifices one day.
Larry Yolamu, 19, said pupils promised the school's management that they were going to achieve not only a 100% pass rate but a 100% university entrance pass.
"In order to do that we have to unite."Bulunga, who described the pupils as his "angels", is hoping his demand that they call him at 3am is motivating mentors and their groups to study harder.
Makhubele said she was especially proud of one of her pupils, Akani Sikwili, who had been accepted to study medicine at Stellenbosch University next year.
Akani failed Grade 11 in 2015 at another school after obtaining 18% in maths and 29% in physical science. After repeating Grade 11 at Moses Mnisi last year he achieved 78% in maths and 60% in physical science.In a touching WhatsApp message to Makhubele, he wrote: "Ma'm you accepted me when everyone rejected me when I failed. You made me to love books. Now they have accepted me at Stellenbosch."
Department of Basic Education director of public examinations Priscilla Ogunbanjo told a parliamentary committee recently that preparations for the exams, which begin on October 24, were well advanced.
Exam question papers had been set and externally moderated by Umalusi.
After maths papers were leaked last year, an independent company is to audit the processes, from the setting of questions to the printing of the question papers.
MATRIC'S PASS RATE IN THE JUNE EXAMS, BY SUBJECT
• Maths: 49.06%• Maths literacy: 64.98%• Accounting: 60.79%• Business studies: 69.68%• Economics: 71.84%• Geography: 66.57%• History: 86.56%• English first additional language: 90.36%• Life sciences: 68.08%
MATRIC PUPILS' PASS RATE IN THE JUNE EXAMS BY PROVINCE• Eastern Cape: 50%• Free State: 78.6%• Gauteng: 70.2%• KwaZulu-Natal: 47.46%• Limpopo: 76.6%• Mpumalanga: 78%• Northern Cape: 56.1%• North West: 68.7%• Western Cape: 71%• National: 68.1%
PROGRESSED PUPILS WRITING MATRIC
• Eastern Cape: 9766• Free State: 5311• Gauteng: 12927• KwaZulu-Natal: 26277• Limpopo: 21627• Mpumalanga: 11978• North West: 7432• Northern Cape: 2336• Western Cape: 3706• National: 101360
MATRIC PASS RATE
• Klipspruit West Secondary
• 2014: 56.9%• 2015: 52.3%• 2016: 69.3%
• Moses Mnisi High
• 2014: 94.9%• 2015: 98.3%• 2016: 100%..