Best exam results ever bring joy to Mnyakanya School
There were remarkable scenes of joy recently at Mnyakanya High School in rural KwaZulu-Natal when the annual Matriculation (Matric) results were announced with the school gaining its best results ever.
Together with St. Mary’s School, Menston in the UK, Mnyakanya helped found the Bambisanani Partnership in 2006. Two years ago, 72% of students passed the Matric exam, which was the best to date, last year the record was broken again with 86% of students passing the exam. This year has seen the school make even further progress with a record 90.5% of students gaining the coveted pass.
The national Matric exam is based on Grade 12 students (final year) having to gain passes in a wide range of individual subject areas. Of 105 students at Mnyakanya, 54 obtained a ‘Bachelor Pass’ which is the entry requirement for university. 28 students achieved a ‘Diploma Pass’ which is the entry requirement for Technical Colleges and 14 students gained the ‘Higher Certificate’ which can provide access to Vocational Colleges.
The spectacular year on year improvement in attainment has brought widespread praise for the school from all parts of the province and beyond. Over the past three years, enrolment at the school has almost doubled with students often travelling many miles, and others even relocating to attend the school. All this has been achieved in the context of the school serving one of the most challenging remote, rural areas in the country with high levels of deprivation, unemployment and health issues. Add to this the impact of Covid, water shortages and daily power outages then what is happening at Mnyakanya is nothing short of remarkable. Teachers at the school have relatively limited resources, yet provide many extra hours of teaching and support for students late into the evening and at weekends.
The Circuit Chief Education Specialist Mr SW Mthethwa visited the school in person to pass on his congratulations: “I decided to leave all that I was supposed to do in my office to come and pass on my sincere words of gratitude to all the teachers who worked extremely hard to shine a light on the name of our circuit, our district and our province as a whole. The hard work and commitment of teachers and learners is highly recognised by everyone.”
The Principal of Mnyakanya School, Mr SV Ngubane said: "It is an honour for us as a school to get these results. These are the results of hard work from both teachers and learners. The commitment of our teachers and students to their work was extraordinary. Our teachers sacrificed their own spare time that they would have been spent with their families, in order to teach our students. Without their remarkable effort and dedication, we wouldn’t have obtained this pass percentage.”
Mrs Pk Zondi a teacher and the Bambisanani Partnership co-ordinator at Mnyakanya said: “Words cannot explain the joy that the Mnyakanya community has because of these the results. They make everybody proud to be at Mnyakanya. It is also amazing that student enrolment has increased by almost 50% in 2023 because of our continued improvement and growing reputation. With the help of the Bambisanani Partnership and Rotary International we have been able to introduce computers to the school and computer-based subjects; this is helping to transform learning and raise levels of aspiration. Such developments are improving the self-esteem of our learners and their hope for the future. I wish to thank everyone who has contributed positively towards the development of our school."
David Geldart, Founder of the Bambisanani Partnership added, “This success is remarkable but not surprising. At Mnyakanya we have teachers that go the extra mile every day for their students. We have students that are prepared to walk two hours to and from school each day because they value and appreciate education. We have been able to bring the internet and computers to the school and the teachers and learners have seized the opportunity; opportunities that many young people in the world would take for granted. Given the new resources it is not at all surprising that these intelligent and resourceful young people are now achieving more. Since the beginning of this partnership, I have been constantly inspired and humbled by the determination and desire of Zulu students to study and learn. Students from other parts of the world have much to learn from these outstanding young people. Massive congratulations must go to the wonderful teachers and learners at Mnyakanya School. These glorious results are nothing less than they deserve for all their hard work!”
