IkamvaYouth celebrates 2013 matric results – 89% pass, 94% eligible for tertiary
Hailed as the class that has achieved the highest pass rate since the birth of the democratic government in 1994, 2012’s matriculants across South Africa achieved a pass rate of 78.2%.
With an 89% matric pass rate – 64% receiving a bachelor pass and a further 30% qualifying for diploma study – and 70 distinctions amongst its 154 matriculants, IkamvaYouth, an organisation that enables learners from poor communities to improve their marks, is proud that their class of 2013 has made a substantial contribution to the record.
The organisation’s director, Joy Olivier, is “simply thrilled” with the learners’ achievements. “IkamvaYouth is continuing to improve on its results while scaling”, she says. “With 60 more matrics than last year, we’ve managed to not only meet last year’s pass result, but more than double the number of bachelor passes achieved. This is very encouraging as we work towards achieving Vision 2030; which has every learner in South Africa reaching and passing matric, and then going on to access the post-school opportunities that set them on the path to earning a dignified living.”In 2013 seven branches had matriculants, with both Ivory Park (in Gauteng) and Umlazi (in KZN) producing their first matric cohort. IkamvaYouth’s Ivory Park branch marked this milestone with a jaw-dropping 100% pass mark, with 83% achieving a bachelors pass. Ivory Park branch ‘s top pupil, Happy Vangile, scored three distinctions in his final year of high school for Maths, Physical Science and Accounting. Vangile said he would not have been able to achieve the high marks he now has, had he not been introduced to the organisation.
“I come from a financially difficult background and there was not much support at home. Before Grade 11 I was not doing very well at school. I joined IkamvaYouth and that is when things started to go well. I received a lot of help from the IkamvaYouth tutors and they kept me motivated till the end.”
Vangile will be studying towards a BCom at the University of Cape Town.
Abongile Jojozi, from Chris Hani Secondary School, a learner at the Makhaza branch, said that aside from improving his results and achieving a whopping four distinctions, in Mathematics, Xhosa, Economics and Life Orientation, and narrowly missing out on distinctions in the rest of his subjects, the organisation taught him leadership and commitment.
“I knew I would get distinctions in Maths and Life Orientation because they are stuff that I practice everyday, I wanted to get good results but I was shocked at some of the results I got and I was even recognised as the top learner at my school.”
He plans to do a BSc at UCT, and is looking forward to volunteering as an IkamvaYouth tutor.
In congratulating the class of 2013, national co-ordinator Zamo Shongwe noted that “Ikamvanites have responded to the challenge to improve the pass rate in townships by showing that with extra work and focus, it can be done. We look forward to learners returning as tutors to give a hand up to other learners going through their paces at branches”
This has all been made possible by corporate, in-kind and individual donors who have invested in township youth and the spirit of IkamvaYouth: ABI, Capitec Bank, the TK Foundation, African Bank, Empower, the Anglo American Chairman’s Fund, DGMT, the Raimondo family trust, the Learning Trust, the Potter foundation, GDF Suez, ABSA; the many in-kind donors that avail space (municipal libraries, schools, community centres and universities) and learning resources (the Answer Series, Fundza) and countless other organisations, companies and individuals. It is thanks to these and many others, and the hundreds of committed volunteers, that IkamvaYouth is able to offer programmes in tutoring, career guidance and mentoring, computer literacy and lifeskills education. IkamvaYouth equips learners (the Ikamvanites) from disadvantaged communities with the knowledge, skills, networks and resources to access tertiary education and/or employment opportunities once they matriculate. IkamvaYouth aims to increase the collective skill level of the population, to grow the national knowledge base, and to replicate success in more communities.
The IkamvaYouth model draws from a large and growing pool of volunteers made up of students (from nearby universities) and local professionals. The organisation’s sustainability is driven by ex-learners who gain entrance to tertiary institutions and return to tutor. More than half of the volunteers at longer-established branches are ex-learners. Ikamvavanites are thus driving change as they develop from beneficiaries into benefactors.
BREAKDOWN OF IKAMVAYOUTH 2013 MATRIC RESULTS:
GAUTENG
Ivory Park (first matric cohort!): 100% pass, 83% bachelor, 17% diploma, 12 distinctions
Ebony Park: 94% pass, 62% bachelor, 34% diploma, 16 distinctions
KWAZULU-NATAL
Chesterville: 82% pass; 44% bachelor, 48% diploma, 23 distinctions
Umlazi (first matric cohort): 83% pass; 40% bachelor, 47% diploma, 3 distinctions
WESTERN CAPE
Makhaza: 83% pass; 64% bachelor, 28% diploma, 12 distinctions
Nyanga: 93% pass; 85% bachelor, 15% diploma, 3 distinctions
Masi: 89% pass; 88% bachelor, 1 distinction
MORE ABOUT IKAMVAYOUTH
IkamvaYouth is a non-profit organisation (established in 2003) that provides a volunteer driven, low cost and highly effective model of after-school tutoring and mentorship in resource-poor communities. It has branches in five provinces in South Africa: in Khayelitsha, Nyanga and Masiphumelele in the Western Cape, Ivory Park and Ebony Park in Gauteng, Chesterville and Umlazi in KwaZulu-Natal, Joza in the Eastern Cape, and Ikageng in the North West Province.
IkamvaYouth recently received the highly prestigious international STARS Impact Award for Education in Africa.
IkamvaYouth received this award while mindful of their Vision 2030, which sees all learners who start grade 1 in 2018, attaining a matric pass or the equivalent, and accessing the post school opportunities that set them on the path to earning a dignified living.
Issued by IkamvaYouth
For More Information Contact:
Media & Communication: Lorelle Bell, lorelle@ikamvayouth.org, 082 5201545
Director: Joy Olivier, joy@ikamvayouth.org
National Coordinator: Zamo Shongwe, zamo@ikamvayouth.org, 084 885 0004
2013 was a big year for IY, and it is with great pride (and relief!) that we can report, once again, our matrics’ excellent achievements. It is thanks to the superheroes who work or volunteer at IY, and those who support and enable this amazing team of people, that IY continues to deliver while growing significantly.
Overall, we achieved an 89% matric pass, and incredibly, 94% of these passes are diploma (30%) or bachelor passes (64%). With sixty more matrics than last year; two brand new branches established; a comprehensive survey of our alumni completed and all that went into our big ten year bash; the ikamvanites really pushed ourselves in our tenth year. And while having our work recognised by many accolades (including the STARS Impact award) is a great affirmation of all we put in, nothing makes it feel more worthwhile than sharing the excitement and joy with our learners as they celebrate the beginning of their shining bright futures.
But (as always at IY), there’s more to come. We still have two big hurdles to clear: the supplementary exams in march (all learners who failed and many of those who fell just short of the diploma or bachelor passes they were aiming for will be spending the coming weeks back with their books), and the all-important post-school placements. The next few weeks involve a lot of time on the phones and in queues at tertiary institutions, as we aim to ensure that all our learners enroll in the post-school opportunities that will set them on their career paths.
Our results by branch and province are as follows:
Gauteng
Ivory Park (first matric cohort!): 100% pass; 17% diploma & 83% bachelor
Ebony Park: 94% pass; 34% diploma & 62% bachelor
KZN
Chesterville: 82% pass; 48% diploma & 44% bachelor
Umlazi (first matric cohort): 83% pass; 47% diploma & 40% bachelor
Western Cape
Makhaza: 83% pass; 28% diploma & 64% bachelor
Nyanga: 93% pass; 15% diploma & 85% bachelor
Masi: 89% pass; 88% bachelor
Well done to everyone who made this happen!
60 tutors from both Ivory Park and Ebony Park branches came together on Saturday the 16th of November to be appreciated by IkamvaYouth. The day started off with normal tutoring from 9am to 12pm, thereafter , all the tutors were transported to the tutor appreciation venue called Wild Waters in Boksburg.
The day was filled with loads of fun, laughter, conversation, eating and drinking. Many tutors mentioned that they had never seen such a beautiful place and they had no idea that a place like this existed in Johannesburg. This venue was full of different types of water fun activities and the tutors could not pull themselves out of the refreshing water. Patrick Mashanda, the District Coordinator, also addressed all the tutors expressing how important they were to IkamvaYouth, reiterating that the work they put in has made a huge difference to many lives. It was a memorable day with many tutors saying that they felt very appreciated for the hard work they put into tutoring the learners.
Eventually we marked the end of the day by handing out certificates of appreciation to all the tutors. We appreciate all our tutors and we are already looking forward to starting 2014 with an even bigger bang!
The Gauteng team was out in full force at the Midrand Graduate Institutes Career Fair in early October. As an opportunity to, not only advertise the most democratic organisation to work in, we also got the very talented and driven students to sign up as volunteers at the nearby branches in the area.
MGI, like many of the higher learning institutions IkamvaYouth continues to grow partnerships with, jumped at the opportunity to get involved with us and came out in large numbers to support our drive. Many had never heard of IY before, but were very interested to find out how they can volunteer their time and become part of such a winning superhero team.
IY relies on the many committed tutors from all over South Africa’s Higher Learning institutions and if you are looking to become part of this amazing opportunity visit our website and sign up online or wait for a tutor drive coming to your varsity soon!
On Monday 25th June 2013, IkamvaYouth Ebony Park Branch established a way for learners to make well-versed choices with their academics in a program called FUN MATHS. This programme aims at preparing Grade 9 learners to have a solid background in mathematics. IkamvaYouth has been working closely with its feeder schools, in and around the area . The FUN MATHS program took place at one of the feeder schools’ called Tsosolotso Ya Africa High School. The program “FUN MATHS” had learners coming from different schools including Ponelopele Oracle Secondary School and Kaalfontein Secondary.
The program started with 30 learners and went on for two weeks during Winter School starting at 9am till 12pm. Tsosolotso Ya Afrika school’s Principal Miss Ntebo Phahlane said that “The program has good intentions in developing our learners and getting them ready for Mathematics that is generally approached with a negative attitude. I personally think it will install positive attitude towards the subject, I fully support the program”.
One learner- Siphosethu Moyo said , “The program will be a huge help to all the learners from all the schools that are involved and I think generally this will help improve the school’s pass rate in mathematics.” IkamvaYouth is looking forward to continue with the program and influence the pass rates in mathematics in all the neighboring schools by getting more learners to join the FUN MATHS.
Five years ago, I found IkamvaYouth by chance and had the opportunity to work with amazing people at the Western Cape’s Winter School. This year, I came back to Ikamva on purpose. I am PhD student from the US, researching democracy and citizenship education in South Africa. I knew I had to do so some preliminary research in SA, so I made sure to schedule my visit during the Winter School. This time, I came to Gauteng, but once again I was welcomed warmly and put straight to work, developing lessons, tutoring and recruiting learners for an afternoon stream, the Peacebuilders’ Club.
Before I arrived, I prepared several English fundamentals lessons and was nervous that they would be too easy, too hard or just too American. With the help of the Ikamva staff and feedback from tutors, I was able to adjust and witness some moments of real learning. No matter where you are, introducing a little controversy and debate can help to engage learners. Between family relations, the death penalty and President Obama’s meeting with President Zuma, there was plenty to talk about. Tutoring at this year’s Gauteng Winter School was a rewarding and eye opening experience. From Romeo & Juliet and human anatomy to the French Revolution and layers of the atmosphere, I was constantly trying to keep up with the brilliant learners of Ebony and Ivory Park. More than once I had to double check my facts and ask more in-depth questions to challenge the motivated learners. I had to avoid the maths’ lessons altogether because they were over my head!
I was also able to help a fantastic group of learners form a Peacebuilders’ Club. I have worked with the US Institute of Peace for several years and they have developed a great serious of activities and lessons on peacebuilding and conflict resolution for secondary school students. All I had to do was bring these activities along and the learners quickly took over and became real peacebuilders and leaders. They did skits, created art and made goals for the future of the club. I want to say a huge thank you to the Peacebuilders’ Club for being so open-minded and motivated! On my last day with Ikamva, the whole group went to Freedom Park in Pretoria. This was an incredible experience for me, both as a visitor, and as a student of history and citizenship. It was moving to see the memorial to those who gave their lives in the struggle for freedom, and it was equally moving to see the tutors and learners participate in a dialog about the struggle and what it means to them.
This demonstration of active citizenship shows how IkamvaYouth not only helps learners to achieve in school, but also to participate in their communities and nation. I have been back in the US a week now, and I can only say a big thank you to the Gauteng staff, tutors and learners for an amazing time at the 2013 Winter School!
Lloyd Lungu