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Top learner’s performance fuelled by poverty

2015-01-19  Mathias Haufiku

Top learner’s performance fuelled by poverty
By Mathias Haufiku WINDHOEK - The much-vaunted Rukonga Vision School has been ranked the eighth best school in the country, and on top of that one of its learners managed to make it into the top 10 candidates with the best overall performance countrywide in six NSSC Ordinary Level subjects, according to the Grade 12 results released last Thursday. Some 102 learners sat for last year’s examinations at the country’s self-styled school of excellence, while 56 managed to meet minimum university requirements. The N$100 million school opened its doors in 2013, admitting only grade 8 and 11 learners – with the emphasis on bright but disadvantaged pupils from all over the country. Michael Hamutenya, 18, the school’s first-ever top ten ranked learner, was ranked seventh best learner nationally in six NSSC Ordinary Level subjects and attributed his Grade 12 success to his poor background. “My background gave me courage to study hard. Since primary school I could not get a good education because of the schools I attended, but when I started at the vision school things changed,” he said. Hamutenya said had it not been for the constant shuffling of his teachers, especially in 2013, he could have scooped the top spot. “Our teachers were coming and going the whole time so that disrupted us, if it were not for that I could have been first. “Some of us also wanted to take some subjects on higher level but we could not because some teaching material and laboratory equipment were not yet in place,” he said. Hamutenya said he intends to enrol at the Unam School of Medicine to pursue his dream of becoming a medical doctor. “My government loan application was approved but I am still awaiting a response from four companies where I applied for a bursary,” he said. Meanwhile, Under Secretary for Formal Education in the Ministry of Education, Charles Kabajani, praised the school for a job well done but promised that more is to come. “It is a good performance for a start, very few schools start off in such a manner. The school even beat most of the traditional schools that have been fully established for years. Things only started shaping up towards the end of 2013 because we were still doing things such as beefing up the teaching resources, restructuring and recruiting teachers that are in line with the vision for which the school was established,” said Kabajani. He however mentioned that a school hall, additional classrooms and workshops for those learners who wish to pursue vocational education need to be constructed so that the school can produce more top-quality learners. “The staffroom and the library also need to be expanded because they are too small,” Kabajani said.
2015-01-19  Mathias Haufiku

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