Tyelinzima Senior Secondary School, a school previously located on the banks of Mapuzi River in Coffee Bay, was one of the worst-hit facilities during the floods that hit the area in February 2023, to an extent that all its classrooms, made up of prefabricated structures, were swept away along with stationery and equipment such as computers and wireless internet connection infrastructure.
With these setbacks in mind, one would have forgiven the school for performing badly when the matric results for the class of 2023 were announced to the public by Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga, on January 18.
Despite the setbacks, the school has instead surprised many, including the parents of learners, by improving on its results for 2022 and achieving an impressive 82.4 percent matric pass rate for its 2023 matric class.
This is a significant improvement from the 76 percent matric pass rate the school achieved in 2022.
School principal, Bayanda Mziba, said that several sacrifices had to be made to ensure that the February floods did not derail them from their ambitions to keep the upward trajectory the school has been showing in its matric results for the past few years.
Mziba says the Grade 12 class was attending school seven days a week, and had morning and evening class sessions that lasted until 22:00 at night, as part of the sacrifices to ensure that the disruptions to learning due to floods did not derail them from their ambitions.
Learners from the lower grades, Grades 8 to 11, were scattered in various schools around Coffee Bay and this, according to Mziba, came at a huge sacrifice to his staff who had to travel to the schools for teaching and learning.
“The staff really dedicated themselves and offered their services to work on weekends and holidays, which meant that they could not take leave even if they were not feeling well,” added Mziba.
He described the success as a team effort that included various stakeholders, including the Department of Health, traditional leaders, South African Police Service, non-governmental organisations, the private sector, and the school governing body who made donations, both monetary and in kind, to assist the school get back on its feet since the floods disaster.
The school, whose premises have since moved to another piece of land away from the banks of Mapuzi River, is still made up of prefabricated structures, but there are government plans to build a brick-and-mortar structure this year.
