Matriculant defies the odds

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Pretoria - Facing what many would deem as insurmountable challenges, a triumphant Tinos Sibanda has managed to obtain six distinctions, including distinctions in Maths and Science.

Sharing his story at an event to honour the best performing matric learners in Ekurhuleni on Wednesday, the 18-year-old from Balmoral College in Boksburg told his peers how he showed resilience and defiance in trying circumstances to outstandingly pass his matric year.

His father passed away when he was still young and his mother left for the UK in 2001 and never came back. He was forced to drop out in Grade 10 due to financial difficulties and later found himself in a bogus school where he passed Grade 11, but it was not recognised by the Department of Education.

"I forced my way through and enrolled with Balmoral College and when I got to the college, I still had financial difficulties and the school saw me through financially and nutritionally... for that I am grateful. It's through this kind gesture that today I stand here with six distinctions," Sibanda told the other learners.

Ekurhuleni Mayor Mondli Gungubele offered Sibanda a full study bursary to pursue a Bachelor of Science at Wits University.

Motivating learners on Wednesday, Gungubele said: "The good thing about education is that you might not remember a paragraph you learned in class but education stays with you; the essence of being at school stays with you and your life will never be the same again."

The learners were part of the 22 300 Ekurhuleni Grade 12 learners who sat for final examinations and of these, 18 446 passed -- constituting an 82.5 percent pass rate.

Gungubele announced that the municipality was to put in place recreational facilities and support Early Childhood Development (ECD) education in a bid to reduce the number of learners that get lost in the schooling system without reaching Grade 12.

There were 923 463 pupils that began Grade 1 in 2000 and only 496 090 sat for exams in 2011. To add to this, an astounding 30 percent of university drop-outs are attributed to failure to comprehend the English language.

"Recreational facilities and supporting ECD is fundamental to the education and intellectual development of children, and we believe that focus on the early development phase will solve the problem.

"The facilities give children more mental growth and development, independent thinking and problem solving skills, while ECD ensures that issues of numeracy and literacy are grasped at an early level," Gungubele said.

Every year, Gungubele gives out mayoral bursaries to well deserving students who would not be in a position to follow their dreams without financial assistance.