Township learners help each other achieve 82% pass rate, with 87% of those who passed eligible for tertiary study (51% bachelor and 36% diploma)
IkamvaYouth learners are celebrating great matric results; once again these township youth have achieved results that far surpass the national averages, showing that the odds can indeed be overcome. Matrics from nine branches across five provinces achieved an overall 82% pass rate, with 87% of those eligible for tertiary study (51% bachelor and 36% diploma).
The organisation is proud to achieve these results while scaling its reach; the class of 2014 (244 learners) saw a 63% growth in matric numbers from the previous year (153 learners). Two branches are celebrating excellent results for their inaugural matric cohorts: Joza in Grahamstown, Eastern Cape, achieved an 85% pass with 89% of those eligible for tertiary, and Ikageng in the North West achieved an 84% pass with 95% of those eligible for tertiary studies. IkamvaYouth’s director Joy Olivier said: “I’d like to congratulate the ikamvanites on your incredible achievements. I would also like to thank all our staff, tutors, supporters and donors for the energy, commitment, love and support that makes this work possible.”
The class of 2014 are going on to study a range of important fields that will equip them with the skills they need to build South Africa, including medicine, speech and audiology, social work, biomedical science, town management, civil engineering, mechanical engineering and information technology to name just a few!
IkamvaYouth’s work with the class of 2014 is far from over. While many of those who passed have already been accepted by the country’s top universities, there is still work to be done to ensure that none of the class of 2014 become NEETs (not in education, employment or training). Most of the learners who did not pass are eligible for supplementary exams, and IkamvaYouth will be supporting these learners to ensure that they are well-prepared to clear this hurdle on the way to securing post-school opportunities.
IkamvaYouth has maintained a matric pass rate of between 82 and 100% each year since 2005, and true credit for these results must go to the learners, volunteers, the staff, partner organisations and donors. “IkamvaYouth would like to shout out particular thanks to IkamvaYouth’s five largest donors in 2014: Amalgamated Beverage Industries, Omidyar Network, Capitec Bank, the Stars Foundation and the TK Foundation. Without these and all of the other wonderful donors, these results would not be possible. We hugely appreciate your support and are looking forward to continuing to working with you in the years to come,” said chairperson Leigh Meinert.
For more information about IkamvaYouth, please refer to our 2013 Annual Report.
If you would like to donate to IkamvaYouth, please do so via Given Gain or Global Giving or contact alex@ikamvayouth.org.
IkamvaYouth is very proud to announce that the average pass rate for its Amalgamated Beverage Industries (ABI) funded branches was 83%; smashing the national average of 75.8%. Of those who passed, 82% are eligible for tertiary education with 51% achieving a bachelor pass.
ABI and IkamvaYouth have a smart strategic partnership which has enabled IkamvaYouth to establish four branches (Umlazi in KZN, Ebony Park and Mamelodi in Gauteng, Ikageng in the North West Province). ABI’s staff have been actively involved in the branches; not only have they provided funding, but ABI employees have refurbished and upgraded branches and provided tutoring and mentoring to learners. “ABI has enabled IkamvaYouth to help disadvantaged learners get the best possible matric qualification so that they are well on the path to earning a dignified living,” says IkamvaYouth director, Joy Olivier.
One of the many examples of incredible achievement comes from Tiyiselani Mpangane, who joined the Ebony Park branch in 2012 as a grade 10 learner, when she was really struggling at school. Soon her results began to shoot up, and they didn’t stop! She got 6 distinctions, and has already been accepted to study medicine at UCT. This is an exceptional achievement: out of 200 first year UCT medical students, only ten are black. “I feel so proud, I feel so proud.. words can’t describe how excited I am for her, and I wish her and all these learners all the best in life”, says Nyasha Zvomuya, Branch Coordinator at Ebony Park, the most established of IkamvaYouth’s ABI-funded branches, where 91% of the class of 2014 have indicated that they want to return to IkamvaYouth to become volunteer tutors.
“IkamvaYouth is absolutely thrilled to have ABI’s support and looks forward to working with them in 2015 and beyond”, says Leigh Meinert, chairperson of IkamvaYouth.
“As we celebrate our fifth year with IkamvaYouth, I am thrilled that the sustained high performance of ‘Ikamvanites’ continue to ensure that ABI as a company remains committed to Education Development in our country. This partnership is worth every investment, especially since it gives more than just education but supplies a continued pool of inspired tutors that return to give back to IkamvaYouth. We are really proud of all ‘Ikamvanites’.” Tshidi Ramogase, Head of Corporate Affairs, ABI.
As the day started with much anticipation to meet our volunteers for the tutor appreciation. A day to spend time and get to know one another outside IY was refreshing. This day was on Saturday the 6th of December. The day having kicked off with all of us heading to the tutor appreciation venue which is known as Moretele Park Resort in the Mamelodi area not too far from the branch.
The resort started operating in 1986. Moretele Park Resort is a place with the a scenic and exhilarating landscape. Once a feeder dairy and vegetable farm for the Bothgotsong Old Age Home In Mamelodi, Moretele Recreation Resort used to be called Vlakfontein. For Mamelodi D6 residents the park is known as “ga-modau”. Others call the park “Three Trees” because of the three trees that stand in line on the banks of the Moretele River.
With this much history it’s no surprise our volunteers had no problem enjoying the open and clear space filled with just the trees alongside the banks of the river that flows through the park, with a braai area, shelters and swimming pools. Our volunteers enjoying the surrounding area playing fast thinking games such as the 30 seconds, Jenga and the likes.
It was a well deserved time to reflect and just close off the year on a high note, thanking our valued tutors for all they have put in from the beginning of IY Mamelodi, and also now during its infant stage.
At the end of the day all we had to say was thank you to everyone who attended the day. We appreciated all efforts put in during the 9 months of IY Mamelodi’s establishment to make a positive change in the community of Mamelodi and we would like to continue and maintain the relationship we have with them going forward.
Thanks to our tutors:
– Sigga Waleng, Bongane Nkosi, Vukosi Msindo, Lucky Selepe, Tshinakaho Malesa, Kgaogelo Moloko, Sonia Tibane, Naledi Mokopakgoshi, Ingrid Molahlegi, Collet Phasha,Brian Matakunure
… and to those who could not make it for the day
We wish you a happy and prosperous new year!
Dear IkamvaYouth’s incredible tutors and mentors,
You are the key to IkamvaYouth’s success; you embody the spirit of IkamvaYouth and have proven that volunteerism is in fact sustainable and scalable.
Thank you for your inspiring dedication and for being a tremendous example to our learners, and the country at large.
Without you we would not be able to help as many learners as we do. We hugely appreciate the sacrifices you make when you give up your time to tutor, mentor or to help us in other ways.
We want to thank you with this message as our personal round of applause. The credit for our work rests with our dedicated volunteers:
It is you who inspire and enable our learners to achieve these amazing results. You guys are also our BIGGEST benefactors.
We hope to see you continue to lift as you rise and wish you all the very best in everything that you do.
Thank you!
IkamvaYouth’s first rural branch celebrates an incredible 86% pass for its inaugural matriculating class, with 50% achieving the bachelor passes they need to access university. These results are particularly impressive compared with the provincial pass rate of 65.4%, and 31% bachelor passes. With the Eastern Cape the country’s worst-performing province, and Joza schools notoriously low-performing within Grahamstown’s highly unequal education system, these results mean more than just brighter futures for the 18 matriculating Ikamvanites and their families.
That after-school peer-to-peer learning and tutoring can yield results in this challenging context means hope to many schools and communities plagued by an education system in crisis. It also means that redressing the inequalities that plague Grahamstown is possible, and achievable. These results have been achieved through peer-to-peer learning and tutoring, where volunteering university students facilitate small group learning, where learners drive the agenda themselves. There is no teaching — only learning — and the results are remarkable!
Although Rhodes University is just down the hill from Joza, tiny numbers of learners enter the doors of this top institution on their doorstep. IkamvaYouth is thrilled to announce that this year, seven Ikamvanites have been accepted to study at Rhodes.
95% of IkamvaYouth’s Joza branch’s learners attend Nombulelo High school, where the branch is based. This is the biggest school in Grahamstown, and had 215 matric learners writing in 2013; just under 40% of these passed. As Dr Ashley Westaway from Gadra pointed out in his analysis of Grahamstown’s matric results last year, more than double the number of candidates that wrote at any other school in the City wrote at Nombulelo, and “as can be expected, the Nombulelo predicament had a massive bearing on the overall performance in Grahamstown. If one entirely removes Nombulelo from the City statistics, its pass rate increases by over 10%, up to 71,6%.”
This year, 75 matric learners at Nombulelo passed, with 32% attaining bachelor passes. Ikamvanites contributed 38% of these bachelor passes; a testament to what can be achieved through partnerships between schools and community-based after-school programmes. Nombulelo principal, Mr Mthuthuzeli Koliti, noted that “those learners who do not connect with the teachers are inspired by the younger tutors who inspire them to work hard. Some of these slept at the school as they could not study at home and their commitment has paid off.” Nomfusi Phamela Mgqobele, a parent of a very proud grade 12 learner, thanked IkamvaYouth and said that the organisation has “not only helped with his performance at school but shaped him to become a responsible young man”.
Establishing the Joza branch has not been easy, and it is a testament to the hard work and support from a range of individuals and partner organisations. IkamvaYouth greatly appreciates the efforts of all involved, including the tutors, parents, the schools, Rhodes’ Centre for Community Engagement, the Claude Leon Foundation, the Joza Youth Hub, the Learning Trust and the Eastern Cape Department of Education. “These results are amazing”, said branch coordinator Bulelwa Mangali. “It’s also not the end as the three learners who failed are eligible for supplementary exams and so we are shooting for 100% pass by March”.
Lloyd Lungu