Johannesburg - City of Ekurhuleni mayor Mzwandile Masina has praised the municipality’s matric Class of 2020 for “lifting themselves above horizons” during the city’s Godfrey M Pitje Academic Excellence Awards.
Ekurhuleni hosted the awards ceremony in Germiston on Wednesday. Every year, the awards acknowledge and celebrate the municipality’s brightest minds, teachers and schools.
Masina said the city was extremely proud to see Ekurhuleni’s schools produce learners who would undoubtedly contribute to the betterment of the country.
“This year, we celebrate learners who fought incredibly hard to maintain academic discipline under difficult circumstances, teachers who went beyond the call of duty to ensure that the academic project is not derailed by Covid-19, and the schools that did their best to create a conducive learning environment in a world where even sitting directly next to another had become an impossibility,” the mayor said.
Masina also congratulated Unity Secondary School in Daveyton, which was named the second-best performing township school with a pass rate of 90.8%.
“The school is a demonstration of the commitment of teachers and the dedication of learners. It is the commitment and dedication that we have seen across the City of Ekurhuleni in this past year and I am immeasurably proud,” he said.
During the award ceremony, it was announced that the overall top performing learner was Layla Germishuys from Hoërskool Brandwag in Airfield, followed by Ruan Roodt from the same school and Sifiso Christopher Ntikane from Etwatwa Secondary School in Wattville.
Ntikane also scooped the top spot for best performing learner from a priority school, followed by Ziphezinhle Lang from Jiyana Secondary School in Tembisa and Rirhandzu Precious Mkhari from Ponego Secondary School in Katlehong.
Germishuys, who is enrolled to study a Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery at the University of Pretoria, said that her heart was full of pride for the Class of 2020 and herself.
Ntikane, who also took the top spot for best performing business studies and accounting learner in Ekurhuleni, said his matric year taught him that good things come to an end and that he needed to be disciplined to achieve in the end.
“One of the strategies I used to obtain my six distinctions was to picture my life like a bank account, because if you act in the right way, you’ll make the world owe you,” he said.
The municipality announced that the overall top achieving schools in Ekurhuleni were Edenvale High School, Hoërskool Kempton Park and Edenglen High School.
The Star