Cape Town - She lost everything but the clothes on her back when a fired a raged through BM Section in Khayelitsha on New Year’s Day.
“I heard someone calling outside that there was a fire. Everything burnt,” said the 18-year-old former pupil at Matthew Goniwe Memorial High in Khayelitsha.
On Thursday, she had to borrow clothes when she went to school to fetch her results.
The teenager, who now lives with an aunt, broke down in tears when she realised that she had not passed matric.
She was too emotional to speak.
Elsewhere on the schoolgrounds there were tears of joy. The school achieved an 83.7percent pass rate.
Among the top achievers were Sive Nondala, 18, who earned distinctions in Xhosa, maths and physical science and is planning to study medicine at UCT.
He said hard work had been the key to his success.
Mncanca Yandisa, 20, was all smiles when he got his results.
He had fallen ill in May last year and missed his June exams. He failed his September exams and was overjoyed when his final results showed that he had passed.
“I’m so happy,” he said.
While the school’s pass rate was slightly down from the 2011 pass rate of 87,6percent, more pupils passed in 2012.
A total of 128 candidates passed in 2012 compared to 99 in 2011.
The number of pupils earning passes that could earn them entry to bachelor degree study also increased from 46 to 52.
Principal Ntomboxolo Mqumbisa said the 2012 results had encouraged the school to work harder.
“We will have to strategise again and this year’s results will have to be better.”
Cape Argus