Mpondombini Senior Secondary School Maths teacher, José Martin. Picture: ALAN EASON

Out of the veil of hopelessness in Bizana, Mpondombini  Senior Secondary School brings hope to the community as the  top performing school in the entire Mbizana District. While many schools in the area give excuses for their  appalling results, Mpondombini staff and pupils are singing a  different tune.
The Nyaka village school, home to 509 pupils, achieved a 59.7  percent matric pass rate in 2008.
While they admitted that their marks were not that good,  the school planned to turn their fortunes around.

“Grade 12 classes began at 7am everyday and I was here to  support them in the mornings. Teachers work in a team here  and I always try to support those that are struggling. We try to  teach the children something new everyday,” principal Edward  Gabada said.
Gabada’s no-nonsense attitude seems to be paying off despite  the school not having a library and laboratories, a shortage of  textbooks and stationary – a situation much the same at other  schools in the district.

[Show as slideshow]

The school was only electrified in 2008 and there are only  nine classrooms for the 509 pupils who are taught by a staff of  16.
In 2006, the matric pass rate was 75.5 percent and increased to  about 85 percent in 2007.

In 2008 marks dropped to an all-time low of 59.7 percent, which Gabada attributed to the new Outcomes Based Education curriculum.

Gabada, who became principal in 2001, said that the results at the school had been steadily increasing before 2008.

Mpondombini Senior Secondary School principal, Edward Gabada. Picture: ALAN EASON

When he started, only 23 percent of matrics were passing.
“They were increasing year by year since I got to the school but things changed last year under the New Curriculum Statement,” he said.

Even teachers and pupils are optimistic about the future.

Matric pupil Sinako Dlamini, 18, described  teachers at the school as “dedicated and encouraging” because,  he said, “learners need a lot of encouragement.”

Dlamini, who would one day like to be a social worker, said  school was a place where he could get encouragement – an  escape from his poor upbringing.
Like many children in Bizana, Dlamini has to work weekends  and holidays to supplement his grandmother’s income as a  child-minder.

Top Grade 12 Science pupil, Khanyile Majola, 18, applied early  last year to University of Western Cape and Mangosuthu  University of Technology in Durban to study medicine.

“But in case I don’t get A’s for Maths and Science as required  to enrol for medicine my alternative will be nursing, and I will  use it as a stepping stone to medicine,” said Majola, who got 60  percent in Science during the 2009 trial exams.

Majola passed Science with 52 percent in March and climbed to 60 percent in June.

Maths teacher José Martin said Majola was capable of  achieving 80 percent.

Martin teaches Maths to Grade 10 and 12 pupils at the school.  He joined in 1991 after teaching in Kenya for years.

“The pass rate had been bad until … the principal joined in  2001. In this school we do not cane pupils but we talk to them,”  said Martin. – BY ASA SOKOPO and BONGANI HANS

VIDEO: Asa Sokopo speaks to Edward Gabada, the principal at Mpondombini Senior Secondary School.

Tags: Edward Gabada, Jose Martin, Khanyile Majola, Mpondombini Senior Secondary School, New Curriculum Statement, Nyaka Village, Outcomes Based Education, Sinako Dlamini

This entry was posted on Monday, January 4th, 2010 at 10:34 am and is filed under Mpondombini. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.