Firstly, I noticed his tattered collared school shirt and his eyes, bright ,yet years of sitting around veld fires and warming himself through amalongwe fueled fire had given him an aging yellowish tinge reflective of years of studying under candlelight. He looked older.....Poverty does that to you, but i knew he was about 18. Then MEC of Health, Dr.Dyantyi came followed by the Head of Department at Social Development, Bea Hackula and started hugging and chatting to him.Phone numbers were taken down and it is at this point,my son Litha who I had taken to the Awards Ceremony for inspiration pointed out that Mommy, you are crying, what has touched you, he asked? His name Mawande Khuphuka, from Lindelani Senior Secondary School, In Mt.Ayliff, the top learner in that rural district from a Historically Disadvantaged institution ( HDI) which albeit its fancy acronym Is Just A Rural Village School. Mawande had touched me because I was once a rural learner. It hits me and hits me hard ......how far we have come as a country and how we are steadily living up to the clarion call of the Freedom Charter, 60 years ago. We, in this province which had two former homelands ( Ciskei and Transkei) as well as an administration ( former Republic of SA are really opening the Doors of Learning and culture for All. Although our province was once more at the bottom, the results showed many positives for the country. First,although many provinces performed above us, they dropped their pass rates, whilst we increased albeit from a low base, from 61.6% from 2012 to 64.9% in 2013 and standing at 65.4% this year. We still fell short of our 70% ambitions and Premier Masualle wants answers because we cant move forward if we dont know and analyse the causes and unveil a programme of action. On the positive side: We had Rohan Jain, a young Indian boy who sat a few tables from mine as our top achiever in the entire country in Mathematics from Selborne College Boys High.He also Got 2nd Place In Physical Science in the entire country. In the category of Combined Mathematics and Physical Science, a bright young man, Luvo Luzipo from St James Senior Secondary School in Cofimvaba, a rural district, came second nationally. Luvo Luzipo, our top performing achiever in all of the province proves once more how we need to stay the course in our transformation Agenda. For the first time since 1994 a black child from a rural district ( Cofimvaba) came first,beating his peers from comparatively advantaged schools such as Selborne and Muir Boys Colleges. It took 20 years for the radical Education plan introduced by the ANC in 1994 to pay off. A full 20 years, in a system that is structured to produce outputs after 12 years in the system. This shows how stubborn the effects of colonialism , Apartheid and Bantustan spatial planning and how far- reaching its machinations were for the black child. As a Home of Legends, we also recorded an improvement in Accounting. You will recall that in 1976, the Eastern Cape produced the first Black chartered accountant, Prof. Wiseman Lumkile Nkuhlu who went on to train the first crop of Black Chartered Accountants at UNITRA. Some of his students like Nonkululeko Gobodo went on to establish one of our biggest firms Sizwe Ntsaluba Gobodo. The Class of 2014 Accounting students are following up the great tradition of those trailblazers and torch-bearers. The 2014# Matric results in the Eastern Cape also show that students who wrote technical subjects such as Civil Technology, electrical technology, Engineering and Graphics design performed very well in the range of 95 -97.9 scores registered. The output of these learners in our economy also bodes well for our engineering and artisan sectors.Thus we need to strengthen the capacities in our FETs to allow these students to thrive. Our country needs these artisans for building this bulk infrastructure and servicing it.These rural learners are best placed to champion this radical transformation because they come from these areas and they know what our rural villages need.They are the ones who still walk the many kilometres to school and cant attend class when it rains due to flooding. They have the technical indigenous know how technical sciences not withstanding their constraints. My own brother in -law,Prof.Bongani Mayosi,the Head of the School of Medicine at the University of Cape Town comes from Nqamakwe and was a product of St Johns College and it was in the early 80 that I am told he used to score 100% for Mathematics and Physical Sciences and matriculated when he was about 16. I raise this History of academic excellence in the province because years of systematic neglect not mental deficiencies of our province caused us to occupy the lowest rung of the education ladder. Last night,these rural learners from almost 20 of our 23 districts proved that we got this. They go to No Fee Schools, suffer during holidays because schools close and cant access basic nutritious meals the ANC government provides during the school year. Last night with their school blazers draped in their academic medals, from urban to rural, they showed us that even you small Qumbu, Cofimvaba, Mt.Ayliff, Jansenville, Cradock, Graaf-Reinet and Lady Frere,you can do this. The children looked like Generals. .... If you simply look at the Statistics of the Grade 12 matric results for the Eastern cape, you will see that like a bikini they conceal very little, but still reveal nothing. You need to probe deeper and go beyond the slim figures You will see that even dynamite does come wrapped in small packages. On the eve of the ANC s 103rd Anniversary, we note many gains. Our policies are yielding the required results for the country. As a Home of Legends, our learners proved that they stand ready to serve our people and never to dishonour the cause of Freedom The Premier as well as the MECs Top Achiever Awards at R 80 000 per learner of all those learners in the 23 districts awarded,will eventually Open the Doors of Learning and Culture for All learners in the Eastern Cape. The clauses of Freedom Charter are starting to pay off. Yes, many challenges still persist. But ladies and Gentlemen, we got this. The kids at the East London I CC last night proved that we got this. We owe it to Mawande Khuphuka from Lindelani Senior Sec Sch in Mt Ayliff. Last night, we gave him his dignity back. He was not just a peasant anymore, he was not a just a cattle herder and shepherd in his free time. He became a King, like Yolanda Mbola from Ngcingwane, the kid who spoke at ma Mbekis funeral and Sonwabise Manqoyi from e Gcuwa, the learner from St Johns College in Mthatha. Those girls became Queens because the ANC Government made sure that Education for a black child was a Right and not a Privilege. Last night, the EC became a better place to live in. # Reflections from last nights Matric results ceremony at the East London ICC ..... Nomfanelo Kota. ALL COPYRIGHTS RESERVED.2015.......
Posted on: Wed, 07 Jan 2015 07:47:11 +0000
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