10 Mar 2021

Two Chichi Hill Junior Secondary School pupils in Molapowabojang have recieved sponsorship from a local farmer for excelling in this years Junior Certificate Examinations.

The two pupils, Ms Melindah Lekoba and Ms Janet Hangula, obtained 6As, 2Bs and 1C as well as 4As, 4Bs and 1C respectively.

The farmer, Mr Sergio Simanyana, gave Ms Lekoba P750 cash and 50 per cent transport fares for her two-year duration at senior school while Ms Hangula recieved P500 and a school bag with accessories.

Mr Simanyana heeded the government’s Adopt-a-School initiative and commenced a three-year sponsorship with the school, which he has since renewed with an additional three years.

“As a resident I was concerned that the school was failing to obtain at least 50 per cent pass rate so I came up with the initiative in an effort to motivate learners and improve the overall academic performance of the shool,” he said during the award ceremony on Tuesday.

The sponsorship is for those obtaining an overall minimum of grade A, and the first recipient was for the 2019 examinations.

Mr Simanyana applauded the recipients for their commitment and urged them to stay focused at senior school.

He said their performance has put them in a position to compete for opportunities internationally.

He also implored them to continue with the hard work so that they could create employment for other young people in the future.

He said he had revised his sponsorship initiative to emphasise and promote science and agriculture among learners.

He added that future awards would recognise good perfomance in the subjects irrespective of the overall performance of the learners.

The school head, Mr Gaonyadiwe Nyere said he was optimistic that the initiative would improve the school’s performance.

“The sponsorship started in 2018 but we did not have any recipients for that year because nobody qualified.

In 2019 we had one awardee and today we have increased to two. This shows that the initiative has started having the impact that it was intended for,” he said.

He also appealed to other stakeholders to emulate Mr Simanyana’s gesture and play their part in motivating pupils to perform better.

For her part, the head of house, Ms Mpho Gaobotse commended the two recipients for living the school’s motto. She attributed their performance to commitment and hard work, saying they were key in achieving goals.

“These girls are an inspiration to the current learners because their courage, dedication and hard work made them successful despite the challenge posed by COVID-19 in their final year,” she said.

She urged other learners to be courageous and believe that they could make it too.

However, she underscored the need to double their efforts in order to obtain good results.

The office administrator for Mmathethe/Molapowabojang constituency, Mr Tlotlo Kebinakgabo applauded the sponsor for coming up with the initiative, saying it was in line with the area MP’s objective of transforming the constituency to an education hub.

He said teachers could not manage to improve school results alone, and urged other stakeholders to have an input in support of the education sector.

He also urged the awardees to stay focused and not be distracted by the senior school environment. He also pledged P500 for each recipient on behalf of area MP, Dr Edwin Dikoloti. ENDS