Mnyakanya School celebrates best exam results ever!
Students jumped for joy on receiving the best ever Matriculation exam results at Mnyakanya School in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Together with St. Mary’s, Menston, Mnyakanya School helped found the multi-award winning Bambisanani Partnership in 2006.
Last year 72% of students passed the Matriculation exam, which was the best to date. This year, a remarkable 86% of students gained a pass.
The national Matric exam is based on Grade 12 students having to gain passes across a wide range of individual subjects. Of 97 students, 40 obtained a ‘Bachelor Pass’ which is the entry required for university. 28 students achieved a ‘Diploma Pass’ which is the entry requirement for Technical Colleges and 13 students gained the ‘Higher Certificate’ which can provide access to Vocational Colleges.
Mnyakanya is situated in one of the country’s most challenging rural regions with high levels of deprivation, unemployment and health issues. Life is tough at the best of times but the last two years has been particularly difficult with all that Covid has brought. Add to this, issues with both water and electricity supply and a period of civil disruption, then the results are even more amazing. Teachers at the school have provided many extra lessons after school, evenings and at weekends to help students prepare for the exams. This is even more remarkable when considering many of the students walk two hours to and from school each day.
Mrs Pk Zondi, Bambisanani Partnership coordinator at Mnyakanaya, reported ‘great excitement’ when the results were announced with community members rushing to the school to join the celebrations with singing and dancing. Many officials from the Municipality and Department of Education have subsequently visited the school to pass on their congratulations.
““We would not be in this position without the support of the Bambisanani Partnership and in particular St. Mary’s School, Leeds Trinity University and the University of Leeds. The partnership has been with us at our most challenging of times. The growing success of the school has led to a 40% increase in students wishing to attend and this despite having to walk long distances to do so. We would like to thank all those who have contributed to creating a better future for our young people.””
“We are overwhelmed with the results. This is great achievement and progress when you look at the challenges of recent years.””
““I simply cannot praise the educators and learners at Mnyakanya enough; in every sense they continue to go the extra mile. Their determination to succeed is genuinely inspirational. As a partnership our charity now works with primary schools, secondary schools, colleges and universities in both the UK and South Africa. Our work is about helping young people in both countries achieve their potential. Mnyakanya School provides an oasis of hope for young people; all those involved in our partnership will gain strength from these remarkable and thoroughly deserved results which have been achieved with limited material resources. Despite the challenges, we sincerely hope that as many students as possible will be able to continue their education. The partnership will continue to work with the school and others to provide bursaries for further and higher education where possible. My personal thanks must go to the Principal, Mr Siyabonga Ngubane and Mrs Pk Zondi for their vision and commitment to both their young people and the partnership; their leadership is changing the lives of so many young people through the power of education, sport and partnership. Massive congratulations to all at Mnyakanya!””
Mnyakanya School in Nkandla achieves highest matric results ever [ZULULAND OBSERVER]
