TJAKASTAD – A two-year academic record achieved by Mkolishi Secondary School has earned it a special visit and gifts from the Premier, Mandla Ndlovu and MEC for Education, Cathy Dlamini on the first day of school.
They were accompanied by Chief Albert Luthuli Municipality Mayor, Mbuso Magubane, department officials and representatives from the local royal authority. The school received a 100 percent pass rate for the class of 2023 and 2024, making it number one in its circuit for two consecutive years.
Dlamini congratulated the school for the outstanding performance despite the challenges it faced which included a shortage of desks and textbooks, and a dilapidated ceiling. She said out of the 575 schools that have written the 2024 matric examinations, Mkolishi, a quintile one school became the best performer, better than many well resourced schools.
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“We are happy to be congratulating the school today. I want to challenge the school to now produce one of the best performing learners in the country. We will provide more textbooks to the school and give each educator a laptop and also enhance internet connectivity in the premises. We will also bring a maintenance team to address the ceiling problem,” said Dlamini.
Furthermore, the premier also had his own gifts to unwrap. He committed to purchasing full uniform for 150 learners, 30 in each grade. He also contributed a R100 000 towards the purchasing of new desks for the learners. Another R100 000 was contributed by Dlamini’s office which will purchase half of the 250 desks that the school requires.
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“I want to thank the teachers, learners and the entire team for a great performance. All grade 10 learners will receive tablets to use for their rest of high school and beyond. It is our commitment to see all children in the province receiving the best education despite their socio-economic conditions. No child should not get education because of financial disadvantages,” said Ndlovu.
The principal of the school, Dorcas Nkosi attributed the school’s performance to discipline and commitment from the learners, teachers, staff and parents.
