Sithengile Senior Secondary School in Claremont, KwaZulu-Natal, achieved an impressive 96.8% pass rate, a significant improvement from 90.6% in 2024 despite socioeconomic challenges. Sithengile Senior Secondary School in Claremont township, KwaZulu-Natal, achieved a 96.8% pass rate, with more than 140 bachelor’s passes out of 246 pupils and a number of distinctions in maths and science. This is an improvement from a 90.6% pass in 2024.
Principal Sibongile Shabalala applauded the dedication of pupils and teachers in overcoming significant socioeconomic inequalities, noting that achieving these results was “very strenuous and difficult”. Shabalala described how the school helped a small group of pupils overcome learning challenges through a targeted “adoption strategy”, in which the school management team decided to take personal responsibility for 22 pupils who were struggling with personal challenges. “I don’t know how to explain this, but we felt like some of the learners in Grade 12 were not fully prepared for Grade 12; they couldn’t finish an isiZulu novel, for example, and struggled with reading and understanding,” Shabalala said.
These pupils had challenges, including smoking cigarettes, weed or what Shabalala calledincika,an isiZulu word for “lean”, a mixture of cough syrup and soft drinks that has a sedative effect. “They were struggling, drowning in the work, which led them to being absent out of frustration and discouragement. We called parents in so much to intervene; some parents asked us to stop calling them because it became hard for them to regularly attend to the students.” Shabalala added that after dedicating time to figuring out the root of the problem, pupils became cooperative and dedicated themselves to cross-nighting (overnight study sessions) at the school, being taught by their peers.
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The initiative was supported by teachers, who were at the school to observe the pupils during night sessions, and the school hired extra security to ensure pupils’ safety. Only the boys stayed overnight, while the girls attended the regular extra classes for the entire grade. To motivate the matric class to take part in the extra lessons, the school provided a second meal, courtesy of its nutrition programme, which made the pupils feel special, Shabalala said.
“We fundraised to be able to provide the second meals. We would add chicken, make biryani and other well-balanced meals that they would look forward to.” She recalled with a chuckle that, when the matric results were released, a pupil waved his certificate as she walked into her office and joked: “See, ma’am, your biryani helped, I passed.”
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