Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane, had nothing but praise for Gobizizwe Agricultural School in Ncise locality, outside Mthatha, for consistently producing good results since its formation in 2013.
Mabuyane, together with Members of the Provincial Legislature (MPLs), visited the school as part of the provincial government’s back to school campaign, on January 19.
Water tanks, sanitary pads, school bags, scientific calculators and seedlings were some of the items donated to the school during Mabuyane’s visit.
“The visit to the school was part of our back to school programme, an integrated programme of the provincial legislature and the executive.”
“This is a very progressive school in terms of performance of its Grade 12 learners and we are quite happy with the work that has been done by all involved in its success,” Mabuyane said.
The school achieved a 100 percent matric pass rate in 2019 which declined to 97,7 percent in 2020 and 95 percent in 2021.
Mabuyane was also appraised on the challenges that are slowly creeping into the school’s performance, which had contributed to the decline in its matric pass rate of 2021.
“The issue of drugs in the community being cross-pollinated into the school, infrastructure challenges and the teacher-learner ratio, that is abnormal, are some of the challenges that were raised by parents and staff that we need to attend to as government,” Mabuyane said.
School principal, Thulethu Mbi-xane, said the school’s success can be attributed to the dedication of her staff to their work.
“The secret to success is that the school has dedicated teachers who go beyond the call of duty, for nothing in return. We have staff who stay on duty up to 9pm assisting the learners and no-one needs to be pushed to do their work,” Mbixane said.
She attributed the decline in their matric pass rate to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which forced the school to allow some learners into Grade 12 – and some of them were then not able to pass.
One learner from the school’s Matric Class of 2022, Bulumko Mtsimba (19), was among those who were Provincial top performers – after achieving seven distinctions.
Gobizizwe Agricultural School achieved 95% for its Matric Class of 2022.
