Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga has heaped praises on South Africa’s top achievers of the matric Class of 2022.
Describing them as being “unacquainted with the concept of failure and the ambassadors of public schooling”, Motshekga said the Class of 2022 is a unique group.
She was speaking at a breakfast she hosted for the top achievers and their guardians in Randburg, Johannesburg on Thursday.
She said the Class of 2022 is a unique group because they went through the new CAPS curriculumn and that they were the first cohort when grade R was introduced. They also faced the challenges of hard lockdowns due to the outbreak of Covid-19.
The atmosphere was already abuzz with gleaming parents and guardians who were looking down at their children who sat at the front seats of the auditorium.
When the programme director, Given Mpho Mabena, took down the register and asked the provinces to acknowledge their presence, families took the opportunity to show which province dominated the top achiever.
Ululations, cheers and claps gave a glimpse of what is expected when Motshekga announces the results at 6pm.
Northern Cape was conspicuous by its absence at the breakfast. A spirited KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and Gauteng brought so much light in an already bright room full of smiles and glistening parents and guardians.
“You remain the light in the midst of loadshedding … You will eliminate loadshedding,” said director-general in the Department of Education Herbert Mweli. “You beat loadshedding.”
Mweli thanked the parents from insulating their children from social ills, adding that some teachers did not have a social life after hours, weekends and holidays because they were preparing the pupils for the exams.
Motshekga said a matric certificate is an important piece of paper after the birth certificate. “We ask for it even from doctors and people with PhDs. Matric shows your resilience,” Motshekga said.
Joined by her Deputy Minister, Dr Reginah Mhaule, Motshekga also acknowleged the role that parents play in the success of the children.
For the top achievers, the nerves are still high.
Sibusiso Mathebula from IR Lesolang Secondary School in Winterveldt, north of Tshwane, is anxious to know how he performed. Mathebula, accompanied by his mother Joyce and elder brother Treasure, has received offers from the University of Cape Town (UCT), Stellenbosch University, University of Johannesburg and Wits University.
“I’m going to UCT to study astrophysics,” he said.
Also read: Matric Results 2022
For more education news from Sunday World, click here.
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here
