The new university academic year has begun in earnest, and as thousands of students head for lecture halls – some for the first time – one of them is especially excited.
Montford, Chatsworth lad Prenolin Govender scored eight straight As in his matric exams, but he had feared financial challenges would scupper his dream of earning a university degree.
The Meadowlands Technical High School matriculant wanted to become a chartered accountant and help his family, even buying his parents a home of their own.
Govender, who obtained a 90.75% aggregate and graduated top of his class, had set his mind and heart on studying towards a BCom Accounting degree at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Touched by his plight when it was publicised in POST last month, generous readers offered to help in whatever way they could to make his dream a reality.
Now the 18-year-old has little reason to worry about balancing budgets, as KwaZulu-Natal staff at professional advisory firm Ernst & Young have given him a bursary for the next three years.
The firm’s KwaZulu-Natal managing partner, Vinesh Moodley, said they had read the article and decided to reach out to him. “We saw that he was such a great student and knew he deserved a bursary, so we called him in for an interview. But what caught my eye was that his mother said he was self-motivated – that is really what we look for in a person.”
Govender’s mother Selvie, a housewife, had said in the article: “We never walked behind him and forced him to do his homework. Since he was little, he was always with his books and self-motivated.”
Moodley said Govender’s textbook and tuition fees would be covered for the next three years, and if he wanted to study further.
But there’s more: “When he is done at university, he will start work with us and serve his articles here.”
Govender, who attended lectures at the University of KwaZulu-Natal for the first time on Monday, said: “It’s very exciting to be here now and start studying.”
He said he was waiting for a larger workload and the challenges to start.
“They haven’t been hitting us with a lot of work, but they will soon, and I am ready for it.”
Govender said he was extremely happy to have been offered the bursary and had not expected it.
In his initial interview with POST, he said one of the main reasons he had worked so hard in school was to get a bursary, “because I knew my family would not be able to afford my fees”.
He had applied to several large organisations for bursaries without success, he had said. Govender is the first in his family to attend university.