Mayor congratulates the class of 2018

For starters, let me quickly indicate that education is very important for the development of our country as former President Nelson Mandela opined and I quote, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

The power of education extends beyond the development of skills we need for economic success, but it also can contribute to nation-building and reconciliation and no country can really develop unless its citizens are educated.

As an educator myself, I am very much alive to these powerful utterances from Madiba.

As the leadership of the Govan Mbeki Municipality, we would like to take this opportunity and express our appreciation of the 2018 matric results nationally and specifically in the Govan Mbeki Municipal jurisdiction. We appreciate the national pass rate of 78.2 per cent which includes the progressed learners, and congratulate the class of 2018 for having worked so hard in achieving an improvement of 3, 1 per cent from the 75, 1 per cent achieved in the 2017 academic year.

We are very excited that our Mpumalanga Matriculants are putting an in extra effort and this has been attested by the improvement of 4,2 per cent, which is the second highest improvement resulting in the attainment of 79 per cent overall.

It is our considered view that with this positive posture from our learners coupled with more dedication and diligence, we are indeed going to achieve the 80 per cent landmark in the 2019 academic year. This huge but attainable responsibility is therefore placed on the shoulders of the class of 2019 which should and must raise the bar even higher.

As citizens of the Mpumalanga Province, we should roll up our sleeves and play our role in the education of our children by ensuring that the schooling year runs smoothly without any hindrances and disturbances.

To those who made it, we say go all out and register with institutions of higher learning to advance your educational dreams. They should also ensure that they knock in all doors for financial assistance especially to the larger business/private sector and to the department of higher learning.

This is simply because we firmly believe that education is the only weapon through which this country can be totally liberated from all the negative socio-economic and political legacies of the past.

Those who could not achieve what they had set for themselves should not despair because the Department of Basic Education has encouraged them to go back to school and/or rewrite during the February/March rewriting.

We would like to encourage them to take this opportunity and that they should not feel despondent because it does not mean the end of the world.

We are calling on educators, parents and SGBs to rally behind one another and prioritise the education of our children. We beseech them to work as teams from the word go, because teamwork will definitely yield positive results at the end of 2019.

It is incumbent upon all GMM role players in the education sector to work hand-in-hand in ensuring that education in this municipality is given the respect and reverence that it deserves.

We also call upon the class of 2019 to take the challenge and commit to improve on this 79 per cent and go beyond the 80 per cent mark, as this milestone is indeed achievable.

We are also encouraging our public schools in the townships to work hard towards achieving 100 per cent which we believe is attainable. We are particularly elated by the fact that our beautiful Mpumalanga province has achieved a 79 per cent pass rate which is good news for all the people of this province. Indeed, we are marching towards surpassing the 80 per cent mark, a task resting on the shoulders of the class of 2019 and we firmly believe that they will execute it with astounding aplomb.

Very critically, I would like to make a clarion call to the private sector, business people in our midst and all philanthropists to amplify their role in contributing to the education of our children.

As we all know, among the youngsters who passed their exams colourfully, there are children from extremely disadvantaged families who won’t be able to send them to universities to further their education.

Working together in this arena, I believe that we will succeed, against all the odds. The intervention of the private sector in this regard will also complement the measures introduced by the national government in-line with the introduction of free higher education for poor students.

In this regard, we give praise and appreciation to Sasol for the role the company plays in the improvement of education as the strategic centre of human excellence, development and scientific evolution particularly for the people in this municipality.

To you beautiful stars of Govan Mbeki Municipality, we say, the sky is the limit. You managed to defeat the odds in the schooling calendar of 2018; nothing will stop you in your endeavour to conquer the world. Rise and rise again. No one will make you feel inferior without your permission.

We as leaders of this municipality are resolute in our commitment to ensure that education in this area is treated with the respect that it deserves. We will intensify stakeholder partnerships aimed at improving the state of education in the Govan Mbeki Municipality for the better.

I hereby call upon all those who love human progress and educational enlightenment to join forces with us in this noble mission of creating a new person characterised by educational consciousness and a quest to develop all our people for the benefit of our municipal area, our province and the country at large.

Thandi Ngxonono

Executive Mayor for the Govan Mbeki Municipality