Ingqayizivele learner bags seven distinctions with two times 100%

A 17-year-old Tembisa matric learner shines with seven distinctions.

Jessica Sehlabelo said she was very excited about her performance in her subjects and very hopeful that opportunities of financial help will come her way.

Jessica got 100% for physical science, 100% for accounting, 98% for mathematics, 95% for life sciences, 89% for life orientation, 86% for Sepedi (home language) and 86% for English (first additional language).

This has earned Jessica a bachelor pass with university entrance, but she fears that she might not even get to see the tertiary gates due to financial constraints at home.

The Ingqayizivele High School ex-learner resides with her two pensioner grandparents and her unemployed mother who are worried about her future since there isn’t money to provide her with a higher education.

“I have applied for a bursary at different institutions with no luck. One institution told me not to call them, to wait until they call me.

“At first, I was excited about my marks, but now I worry about the money to go and study further,” said Jessica.

Unemployed Ouma Sehlabelo, Jessica’s mother, said she was very happy about her daughter’s success.

“This means I did my job as a mother in raising a dedicated child.”

Jessica’s grandmother, Kgomotso Sehlabelo, said she wished for her granddaughter to study further.

“We raised Jessica on our state grants. I am very happy for my granddaughter, she must study and come back to look after her family.”

Grandfather Andries Sehlabelo said Jessica has made him and the family proud and begged her not to disappoint the Sehlabelos and to work harder in getting an education.

Asked how she managed to get so may distinctions Jessica said she studied both harder and smart.

“As a learner, you must have a strategy and understand your circumstances. Find a suitable time to study, a time that will fit with your personality.

“If you are the kind of a person who can study at night, wait for them to go to sleep. When everyone is asleep get up and study. If you have a different personality and you can’t study at night, you can use a library as an alternative. Have study groups, they do help. Everyone deserves a short break, but do not prolong it unnecessarily,” said Jessica.

She added that learners need to believe in themselves and they must have a goal from the beginning of the year.

“These are my coping strategies and every learner must develop their own coping strategies. For example, I am a down to earth person and I like to keep by myself, that is why I prefer to study at night. Have a supportive family, my family used to remind me to stop watching TV and go back to study”.

She said her family would also exempt her from doing all the house chores for her to focus on studying and she commended her teachers for their hard work saying they went the extra mile.

“Our teachers would not continue to another chapter until we all fully understood the current chapter.”

“I want to thank my family and all my study buddies, I learned a lot from them. We took afternoon classes, morning classes and we even took extra lessons during lunch if we did not understand something.

“Teachers were there for us throughout and they are definitely pivotal to our success. If a subject is well introduced to by a teacher that subject will, therefore, spark interest in the learner, so I think teachers in other schools must show some level of dedication to their work.

“Learners must approach all subjects with an equal level of respect and devotion,” Jessica explained.

She added that teachers also need to understand that all learners are different and they should give them full attention and try to dispel the myth that mathematics and science are difficult by making those subjects more interesting.

Jessica pleaded with potential sponsors to give her the opportunity to further her studies by giving her financial assistance in her actuarial science studies she is planning to do at the University of Witwatersrand.