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'Give credit to our teachers'

JABULANI Technical High School in Soweto - once regarded as a school of shame for its poor matric results - has turned things around by achieving more than four times its 2011 pass rate.

The school achieved a 66% pass rate, improving on the 16% it achieved in 2011.

It produced 11 university entrances compared to the previous year's five.

Principal Thobile Manana said the turnaround was because of a strategy the new school governing body (SGB) - which took over last March - had introduced.

"It is teamwork that produced this achievement. This includes the SGB, the SMT (school management team), learners and teachers.

"We looked at the needs of the school. This is a technical school, which means the curriculum is very technical and rigid. Learners have no alternative. They all have to do maths and science.

"We ditched the department of education's Secondary Schools Improvement Programme and resorted to residential camps we held here at the school.

"Teachers conducted normal classes and came back between 5pm and 7pm for more lessons. Learners slept here and studied at night," Manana said.

She said she had written to the Gauteng department of education asking for intervention following poor results the previous year.

"I asked the department to send an official to do an audit analysis for the school's needs. This was so the budget could be allocated according to our needs. Instead, I was subjected to a disciplinary hearing. I wanted to resign after a psychologist said I was suffering from some disorder," she said.

Manana said she would now reconsider her decision following the achievement.

The SGB's head of development and improvement, Mzimkhulu Hlalukana, said: "The SGB decided that it was no longer to be business as usual. We bought mattresses and slept here. Teachers put in extra hours and came back to teach on weekends.

"We did all this under difficult conditions, with the principal facing a disciplinary action for the poor results of previous years."

Malibongwe Mwelase, 18, was one of the school's top achievers with three distinctions.

"I am very happy with the results. It feels great to be part of the class that turned things around.

"Teachers should take the credit for their dedication," he said.

Malibongwe said he had applied to do electrical engineering at the Tshwane University of Technology." - xabav@sowetan.co.za

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