About 49km inland from Tongaat, you will find Nondenisa Secondary School nestled in the rural hills of Bhamshela, complete with asbestos roofs, overcrowded classrooms and without running water.
A normal rural school, you think? Think again. These walls house 1 130 pupils – of which 70% live on foster grants – with big dreams and 39 teachers with the commitment to give this community hope.
The principal, Xesibe Ntshobeni said the school is bursting at the seams because everyone in the area wants to be there.
“Last year, the parents of grade eight pupils who did not make it in toi-toi’d outside the school because they wanted their children to be accepted. We have about 60 pupils to a teacher at the school, with the biggest class being 85 pupils. It is a huge challenge to give the pupils individual attention,” said Ntshobeni, who started teaching history at the school in 2002 and became the principal eight years ago.
Regardless of their numbers, the school still managed to achieve a 76% pass rate last year which they hope to push to 90% this year.
Last year’s top Protec matric results all came from Nondenisa students, which the humble Ntshobeni is very proud of.
“We are serious about discipline, commitment and a hunger to learn at our school and our teachers pass these values to the pupils. You will never see our pupils loitering in the roads or at the taxi rank by the school. They are always at school on time, learning. They do this because they want to, because our teachers keep them interested.”
Most schools are unionised, which means the teachers only work their required hours and then go home. Nondenisa teachers work overtime voluntarily, giving the pupils extra classes before school at 6.30am and after school until 5pm.
“We have classes throughout the holidays and the matrics even come in on Sundays before their exams, because they want to learn more.”
Former pupil and head of mathematics, Thobani Blose said a teacher should never think their pupils have learned enough.
“It is not about teaching the pupils and then leaving them. You have to spend time with them, work on past papers together, give them all the assistance and support they need to make sure they are prepared. We are always rushing to class, because we do not want to waste time,” said Blose.
Another former pupil and head of technology, Nombuso Nzimande said they try to expose their pupils to as many Olympiads as possible to help them gain confidence and to develop their skills.
“We enter all the Olympiads, from English to maths. We believe it is important to give the pupils a good balance between language and sciences. Their English skills have to be good so that they can study and compete with the students from more advantaged schools,” said Nzimande, who matriculated at Nondenisa in 2007 and is proud of the trophies they have won at the competitions, including a recent one held in Ballito.
The principal said the school is always striving to improve and grow to give their pupils a better chance at success.
“We are extending our curriculum this year to include technical drawing, agricultural science and dramatic arts.
I am most excited about the computer room we are finally installing, thanks to a sponsorship from the education department. This will be the first time our pupils will be exposed to computers.
“We are disadvantaged and we lack resources, but instead of waiting for someone to come help us, we go out there, travel around the country and find ways to make it happen. We are grateful for every sponsor and help. We have setbacks, like our biogas project which we have begun by building 30 toilets to use to convert waste into gas for our kitchen, but our funding was cancelled and now we have to start again, which we will.”
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