Durban – Menzi High school has yet again hit the record and achieved a 100% pass rate in the National Senior Certificate exams despite shortage of teachers and challenges brought about by covid-19.
The Umlazi school is known for producing excellent Grade 12 results in KwaZulu-natal.
When announcing the provincial matric results, the KZN MEC Kwazi Mshengu said the KZN matric class of 2021 achieved an outstanding 76.8% pass rate, which is a marginal 0.8% decrease from the performance of the class of 2020. A total of 127 990 pupils had passed Grade 12 in the province.
Menzi High School principal, Muntu Ntombela, said the school has no other formula for excellence, except for hard work and resilience.
“During these hard trying times of the pandemic we made sure that we comply with all the covid-19 protocols, while making sure that our students get the best education. In preparation for the exams, we had no study leave, we increased the number of periods per subject to cover for the lost time and we has extra classes. Teachers, learners and parents played a huge role in ensuring that the learners were well prepared for their final exams,” she said.
Ntombela said the school had a challenge of shortage of teachers, but with the learning programme the school had they were able to manoeuvre.
When speaking to IOL sister paper the Mercury, Mhlengi Shange,17, who emerged as one of the top achievers, attributed his success to endless motivation from teachers at the school and support from his parents.
“The reason that I came to this school was because there is no room for failure, given the amount of effort from the teaching staff. This is a reflection of their motivation to all of us as learners,” said Mhlengi.