Kamogelo Lebone Bakai is a learner from Ikageng in the North West. He achieved a bachelors pass and a distinction in the 2015 matric exams.
Kamogelo plans on pursuing a BCom Law degree at the University of the North West.
This is his account of his matric and IkamvaYouth experience.
I remember in 2014 when I received my results confirming my progression to Grade 12.The mixture of excitement and fear, excited because you are going to your last grade and fear because of the external pressures of what people expect of you and what you expect of yourself.
When I began classes in January 2015 I was already mentally fit and determined enough to study hard to pass all my subjects. The teachers kept reminding us to work hard and reiterated that we stay focused and prepared as if we were writing finals. I followed their advice promptly and ensured emotional, spiritual, physical and mental aspects sync.
The reason why I worked hard and emotionally and mentally prepared myself was because I lost both parents and live with my grandmother and grandfather. Throughout every drama and obstacle I faced, IkamvaYouth was like my second home and a space where I felt most liberated and accepted. The tutors were forever welcoming and both the Branch Assistant and Coordinator were always available to help us.
Now… I am done with heavy school bags and my forever-needing-washing school uniform.
So I walked on all those unknown rocky streets and I am still on my journey to a better road with fresh smelling scenery for my view.
WHAT’S THE POINT OF LIVING IF YOU DON’T FEEL ALIVE?
The national matric pass rate dropped from 76% in 2014 to 71% for the class of 2015. And so it was with nerves and excitement that IkamvaYouth learners, volunteers, parents, staff and donors made their way to the organisation’s branches in ten townships across five provinces last week. However, with relief and celebration, the figures confirm that the collective efforts have paid off, and the Ikamvanites have shown that with hard work, peer support and committed volunteer tutors and mentors, the odds can be impressively overcome.
Highlights of Matric 2015
Although 87% of Ikamvanites attend no-fee schools in townships, they managed to succeed against the odds and consistently beat the national average matric results:
- 80% of Ikamvanites passed the matric exam compared to 71% nationally.
- 69% of Ikamvanites are eligible for tertiary study (achieving either bachelor or diploma passes) compared to 55% nationally
- 40% of Ikamvanites qualified to study for a bachelor’s degree at university compared to 26% nationally.
Ikamvanites choose to take more difficult subjects & do better than average:
- While nationally, only 41% of matrics take mathematics and of those only 49% pass; among Ikamvanites 51% take mathematics and 58% pass.
- While nationally, only 30% of matrics take physical science and of those only 59% pass; among Ikamvanites 39% take Physical Science and 67% pass.
Many learners achieved exceptional results. Chumisa Yaphi from Makhaza achieved 6 distinctions, and has been awarded a scholarship to study at UCT. She is weighing up her options at different institutions, and wants to study either Geology or Pharmacy. Read more about her achievement in the Q&A we did with her.
Most of the learners who did not manage to pass this year are eligible for supplementary exams (61%), and so their journey towards a matric pass is not yet over. They will be tutored at IkamvaYouth branches until they write these exams.
The organisation is particularly proud of branch performance in the notoriously poor-performing regions in Kwa-Zulu Natal and the Eastern Cape. The Umlazi branch is celebrating an 87% pass, with 74% eligible for tertiary (39% bachelor and 35% diploma), while the Chesterville branch achieved an 89% pass (27% bachelor and 50% diploma).
Ntombikayise Mjaja, a parent at the Umlazi branch, thanked IkamvaYouth’s donors, volunteers and staff for their initiative, saying “our children are achieving because of this work; we have seen the improvements, and we are so proud of them”.
Bongane Chavane, who joined the Umlazi branch in grade 10 when he was failing Maths and Life Sciences, said that, “the matric exams were of high standard, but with IkamvaYouth in my corner I managed to get a Bachelor Pass that I am very proud of. Today I am very proud to have passed Maths with 70% and Life Science with 72%. IkamvaYouth is a programme aiming at helping pupils with their future, and this year I am going to study Geological Science at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and also give back to this programme by becoming a tutor.
Despite challenges including lacking access to electricity, water and sanitation, as well as Maths and Physics teachers, the Joza branch just outside of Grahamstown achieved an 81% pass (33% bachelor and 24% diploma). Khonaye Mpofana joined IkamvaYouth when he was in grade 11, as he had poor results in grade 10, and was unsure about his post-school career options. He is now celebrating being one of the top matric achievers at his school, and is going on to study Psychology at Rhodes university.
Here’s a graph comparing Ikamvanites bachelor passes against the national averages in the Eastern Cape:
Learners from the class of 2015 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, engineering, social work, and Information Technology. In addition, they are also committed to paying forward the support they received; and many of them are returning to volunteer as tutors, and uplift more learners as they rise.
IkamvaYouth has maintained a matric pass rate of between 80 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 express particular thanks to our remarkable volunteers and IkamvaYouth’s five largest donors in 2015: Amalgamated Beverage Industries, Omidyar Network, Capitec Bank, Montpelier Foundation and ELMA Foundation. Without these and all of the other wonderful donors, these results would not be possible. We appreciate your support hugely and are looking forward to continuing to working with you in the years to come,” says chairperson Leigh Meinert.
For more information on IkamvaYouth, please see our 2014 Annual Report. If you would like to donate to IkamvaYouth, please do so via Given Gain or Global Giving or contact: alex@ikamvayouth.org.
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This video is for you, our supporters. Thank you for being a part of IkamvaYouth!
We are proud of our Masinites who achieved a 79% pass rate this year.
4% of them got a National Higher Certificate pass, 38% a Diploma pass and 38% a Bachelor pass.
We are wishing them all the best for their development in future.
IY has been really good to me, it helps us with school work and also gets us feeling better about ourselves, although sometimes it can be a pain in the neck but at the end of the day it’s really been helpful.
Winter school was totally epic and fun especially on our sports day. It was fantastic, there was this one fellow in the red team, who stood up on the ABI stage and was dancing; his name is Asanda Gumede Grade 11 learner, now soon to be in in Matric :D. He is pretty well known at IY, in fact a lot of people know him for his drama queen tendencies, laughing, making jokes those sort of things. I really enjoyed the sports day though.
Ikamva Youth helps us achieve our goals and what do I mean by that? Well let me tell you, IY helps learners especially matrics in entering university or any tertiary institution, even if you do not get accepted, no problem IY will help you no matter what. IY really helps everyone in the community to make their dreams come true through an educational foundation.
IY helps us with so many things, and I just want to give thanks to the staff, the tutors and sponsors, thank you for everything, it’s been real…
Credits to: Asanda Gumede
By Philiswa Ntoyini
Once again it has been that time of the year when prizes were given to students who were committed to their studies through IkamvaYouth. On the 28th of November 2015, Masiphumelele Branch had fun and celebrated their year-end at the prize giving. The event started at 09:45 on Saturday morning and it was well attended by learners, parents, tutors, Mr Swarts the guest speaker and the IkamvaYouth staff.
Learners get motivated by people who have been through the same phase as they are in, the guest speaker even mentioned that they should invest on their time, they should have dreams with visions and put some actions into it. Not only learners but everyone who attended could use these words in order to achieve successful goals.
Certificates were given to learners who obtained between 75% and 100% of attendance as an evidence as to how committed they were and these learners survived kick outs. Some learners received certificates of excellence for different achievements such as learner of the year, Book Club participation, and English improvement with the FUNdamentals programme.
Tutors were appreciated for their effortless time spent at IkamvaYouth throughout the year helping other learners to improve on their studies.
Most of the tutors were learners at Ikamva, after finishing their matric they came back as tutors. Tutors received IkamvaYouth nice designed hoodies.
It was good to see learners achieving, an achievement does not have to be something big in order to be regarded as an achievement.
Life officially begins!!!!!!
On the 25/11/2015 we held a preparation session for the Ikamvanites in Joza branch. Due to the common trend of students committing suicides upon discovering they’ve failed, we saw the need to equip them in advance so that they know failure is not the end but the chance to begin knowing where one went wrong in the first place.
We were blessed with the presence of two wonderful social workers who engaged with the students. The session was truly inspiring and uplifting, everyone participated in the discussion. One learner had this to say about the experience “Today was helpful and an addition concerning things I had no knowledge of.” Sibulele Moyakhe.
We plan on expanding on this collaborative effort with social development by providing all our learners the necessary support, across all grades (10-12) during the entire course of the coming year.
Thank You Social Development in Grahamstown
Lloyd Lungu