The mayor of the City of Ekurhuleni, councillor Mzwandile Masina, honoured the best-performing matriculants of the Class of 2019 at Alberton Civic Centre on January 29.
During the Ekurhuleni Academic Excellence Awards, recipients of the mayoral bursary programme were also recognised for their dedication.
The award ceremony focused on awards for best-performing teachers in different subjects, best-performing learners and best-performing schools. The most-improved schools were also acknowledged for their hard work.
Best-performing learners who are studying at tertiary institutions through the mayoral bursary programme were also rewarded on the day.
Boksburg schools also did very well at the bursary awards.
In the category of top-performing schools (based on number of enrollments, bachelor’s passes, pass rate and distinctions), Boksburg High School (99.61% pass rate, 132 distinctions) was tied third, while Hoërskool Oosterlig (98.51% pass rate, 111 distinctions) and Hoërskool Dr EG Jansen (96.68% pass rate, 149 distinctions) were tied fourth.
Sunward Park High School (97.47% pass rate, 164 distinctions) was ranked fifth.
Villa Liza Secondary School also excelled, tying 10th with a 94.38% pass rate and 36 distinctions. The same school also ranked fourth in the best-performing priority schools category.
In the category best-performing teacher in a subject, Dalene Roux from Hoërskool Oosterlig outshone the rest for her excellence in teaching mathematics.
Sunward Park High’s Violet Mokou was the 11th overall top matric learner. She achieved eight distinctions in accounting, Afrikaans, English, life orientation, life sciences, mathematics, physical science and religion studies.
Sunward Park High School’s Violet Mokou was the 11th overall top matric learner. She achieved eight distinctions in accounting, Afrikaans, English, life orientation, life sciences, mathematics, physical sciences and religion studies.
Masina congratulated the Class of 2019 and said the City’s investment in learners extended to their tertiary education.
“In advancing our skills development project, we increased our education allocation to R100-million for the Community Bursary Fund.
“This is a 10-fold increase from the previous years, when the bursary fund was at R10-millon.
“This increase in our bursary allocation has enabled us to help many young people to realise their dreams of pursuing academic training,” he said.
He also introduced the Executive Mayor’s Tertiary Assistance Fund and said it ensured that deserving learners had a chance to further their studies.
He said: “The ‘One Business, One Student’ campaign initiated by the mayor seeks to encourage the private sector to get involved in educating the City’s learners.
“They adopt learners and donate full bursary support for the duration of their course.
“It is our belief that government, the private sector and civil society must work together to develop the youth.”
He was joined by dignitaries, who included members of the mayoral committee and Department of Education officials.
