07 Feb 2018

Meepong Junior Secondary School has made Selebi Phikwe proud by doing well in the 2017 Junior Certificate Examinations (JCE).

The school obtained a 75.8 per cent quality pass rate, making it number two in the country after Orapa Junior Secondary School with a 77.1 per cent quality pass rate.

Quality pass rate refers to students who obtained merit, A, B and C grades.

In an interview, the school head, Ms Dorcus Olebile said 153 students from the school sat for the 2017 JCE.

She said 75.8 per cent or 116 students who wrote the examinations at her school obtained either A, B or C grades.

She said the school recorded five As, 41 Bs, 70 Cs, 32 Ds, three Es while two were ungraded.

Ms Olebile said she was proud of the results and happy that on average the students did well.

She commended teachers and staff members for the hard work and commitment they exerted to help achieve the good results.

She said they worked as a team with students and parents.

She also commended parents for being active in their children’s education, adding that without their participation the school could not have done well as it did.

She noted that the school utilised strategies that were normally used in other schools to teach and train students such as study times and writing pre-examination tests among others.

However, she said the way they implemented the strategies was different.

She explained that they implemented the strategies by extending the study time from 4.30pm to 5pm every day of the week and having study time in the morning until midday on Saturdays.

She noted that teachers and non-teaching staff volunteered to take part in the study sessions and monitoring students during the study time and providing them with help on class work when students needed assistance.

She also noted that they held guidance and counselling sessions where motivational speakers, teachers, non-teaching staff members and parents as well as fellow students interacted.

She said through the motivation sessions, they also encouraged parents to take their children’s education serious, and to play a meaningful role in their education.

Ms Olebile also noted that Meepong Junior Secondary School had always been among the top 10 schools in the country with good results in the past five years.

The school obtained a 63 per cent pass rate in 2013, 62.77 per cent in 2014 and 70.50 per cent in 2015.

In 2016, the grades slipped down to 55.8 per cent pass rate due to some challenges experienced after the closure of the BCL Mine.

She said although the mine had its own setbacks, they managed to recuperate and handle the challenges they experienced accordingly and recorded a 75.8 per cent pass rate in 2017.

Ms Olebile noted that in the past 10 years, the school obtained a pass rate of over 50 per cent except in 2008 when the school obtained a 48 per cent pass rate.

Overall, Selebi Phikwe schools have performed exceptionally well in the 2017 Junior Certificate Examinations.

Two other schools from the former mining town of Makhubu Junior Secondary School came third country wide with a 66.2 per cent pass rate while Phatsimo Junior Secondary School came fourth with 64.2 per cent pass rate.

That means Meepong, Makhubu and Phatsimo junior secondary schools are among the top five schools in the country. ENDS