The event is held each year by Ekurhuleni in order to award the top matric achievers of the entire district.
The ceremony was attended by the matriculants and their parents, the representatives of the top achieving schools and Ekurhuleni officials.
HOD Caiphus Chauke stated that ‘we need to invest in human development’.
He continued to say that ‘we need to educate human beings in order to drive our economy’.
Chauke says that parents, schools, government and learners need to come to the party in order to achieve academic excellence.
The best performing learner overall for the district was Alberton High School matriculant, Lisa Nunes.
She stated that having a balance of school work and social life is very important to achieve optimum success.
Nunes also stated,”Where we come from does not define us, what matters is what we do with what we have.”
EMTAF graduate Keorapetse Diale, who studied medicine at Wits University and is graduating in a few weeks, gave advice to matriculants. “Know yourself and know your strengths and weaknesses, and never be ashamed to ask questions.”
Eureka High School was one of 15 schools in Ekurhuleni who received an award for the most improved school.
Principal Kobus van Zyl accepted the award on behalf of the school.
Among the top 15 best performing matrics, two students were from Tsakane and one was from Springs, they were:
n Ziphelele Sydwell Sifiso Nkosi from Tsakane Secondary School.
n Lehlohonolo David Mashaba from Reshogofaditswe Secondary School.
n Whalen Koekemoer from Hoerskool Hugenote.
Springs Girls’ High was also commended for being one of the top performing schools in the Ekurhuleni district.
Mayor Mondli Gungubele states, “Education opens your mind so you become grateful to your environment, this is why learned people are not pompous.”
Gungubele continues to say that the power to succeed is the desire to succeed, but the nature of the success needs to be defined.
“We are not doing you a favour by awarding you bursaries, we are doing ourselves a favour because we believe that education is a lifetime investment that can only serve to grow our city and country,” Gungubele said.
Gungubele awarded the 230 top matriculants with bursaries to the value of R5.7-million.
The bursary recipients also each received book vouchers to the value of R500.
