08 Sep 2022

The proclamation by the late popular American activist and author, Maya Angelou that, “A great soul serves everyone all the time.

A great soul never dies. It brings us together again and again”, best describes the life of Batho Madigele, albeit short.

An alumni of Mookami Junior Secondary School, the Kanye native struggled with renal failure until he succumbed to the medical complications eight years ago, aged 20.

Since he was a top achiever throughout his academic life, Batho’s friend, Tumisang Ramarea decided to sponsor an annual award for the most improved learners at Mookami Junior Secondary School.

The Batho Madigele Prize of Excellence award, which was conceptualised in 2017, aims to reward and motivate well-rounded learners, excelling in both academics and extra-curricular activities.

“This is a special award to honour and celebrate Batho Madigele, an alumni of this school, who excelled both academically and in extra-curricular activities.

Even after being diagnosed with renal failure, he persevered despite his medical challenges.

And therefore, today we want to celebrate the most improved students, despite the challenges they face,” said Tumisang’s sister, Keolebogile Ramarea while presenting the award at the school’s 2022 Prize Giving ceremony recently.

Even though initially the initiative was targeting two learners from each grade, this year it was divided among the most improved three from each grade.

 However only two beneficiaries from Form 3 and Form 1 were identified, while none of the Form 2 learners qualified as the most improved.

 Both pupils had improved from an overall Grade D in the first term to Grace C in the second term, a ray of hope for the school’s declining academic performance.

“This year the award was modified slightly. In 2021 we did not have an award or anything related, so given the limited time to prepare for this year’s event, we modified it slightly to only honour three students instead of the usual six.

Also, this time around, we wanted to honour students who had shown the most improvement academically, especially in the wake of the recent pandemic, since Batho never let adversity hold him back,” said Tumisang in an interview.

In addition, Tumisang aspires to expand the initiative to incorporate more aspects intended to mould young people, such as mentorship.

His dream is to also impact on disadvantaged members of the society, even outside Kanye.

 “We are currently reflecting on ways we can do to better the impact of this initiative.” ENDS