23 Mar 2021

North East District Council councillors have applauded Masunga Senior Secondary School for excellence in the 2020 BGCSE examinations where they emerged number one countrywide.

Speaking at the ongoing full council session, chairperson of North East District Council, Ms Florah Mpetsane highlighted that despite the COVID-19 pandemic the school worked hard to become the best with 43.47 per cent in BGCSE results.

Ms Mpetsane said the school had been among the top 10 in national examinations for some years, adding that in 2019 it was in position two with a pass performance of 45.05 per cent, and that it was the most improved senior secondary school in the country.  

She congradulated one of the top achievers in the country, who was also a pupil at Masunga  secondary, Mr Hakim Mokwena for obtaining 9 A*. 

The chairperson also noted that junior secondary schools in the district were also performing satisfactorily. She, however, said there were some challenges which the education officers and the schools management teams were working hard to resolve.

She noted that there had been a drop in the 2020 JCE results as compared to those for 2019 which she attributed to COVID-19 challenges.

She said the region was planning to strengthen supervision and support to assist schools to improve the upcoming examinations results.

Furthermore, councillor Mpetsane noted that the district had done exceptionally well in Primary School Leaving Examinations by scooping position one nationwide.

She said schools in the sub-region obtained a 43 per cent performance of AB and 79 per cent for ABC.

However, she also noted that six schools in the district had performed below the target. She listed them as Ramokgwebana, Gulubane, Letsholathebe, Kgari, Matopi and Mambo.

Their performance, she said, called for concerted efforts to improve results.  

Pertaining to COVID-19 in schools, she said almost all the schools in the district were affected by the pandemic, and that some learners were either on quarantine or on isolation. 

However she commended school teams for their selflessness in taking care of all the affected learners and ensuring that they caught up for the lost time.

Councillor Mpetsane also stated that the district had experienced localised outbreaks of COVID-19 in schools, especially boarding schools.  ENDS