Betty Moleya
Pretoria - Maragon Mooikloof has yet again set a record – its 15th – for the 100% matric pass rate in the matric exams.
The school’s top three achievers include 17-year-old fraternal twins Michael and Amanda Chilinkhwambe, who have been consistent top achievers at the school.
Amanda obtained distinctions for all eight subjects she was studying, and yesterday she said their matric year started off on a rough footing because of the pandemic.
“When we started our matric we were already in lockdown, and that was unsettling. After adapting to the situation and the workload, things started becoming easy.”
Amanda will be studying towards a BCom in Actuarial Sciences at UCT.
Her twin brother Michael said it had come as a beautiful surprise that he was one of the top achievers in the school’s class of 2021.
He obtained five distinctions, one for maths.
“We spent our whole two important school grades in the pandemic. Covid reminded me that some things are out of my control and I need to be consistent with my work.”
Michael is still undecided on what he’ll be studying this year, but he plans to take a gap year if he does not reach a decision soon.
“If I decide to pursue academics, I will definitely be studying medicine.”
Daniel de Villiers, who obtained seven distinctions, said it was no surprise that he is one of the top achievers at the school.
“I kind of expected this but it has not really set in that I did it,” the 18-year-old said.
“I am proud, as starting the year it felt like it was not going to end.”
He has been accepted to study towards a BSc in Computer Science at the University of Pretoria.
The top achievers encouraged other learners to remove the negative stigma about maths, as it is considered one of the toughest subjects.
Maragon Mooikloof principal Casey Kleynhans said she was proud of the class of 2021, and advised learners to research what they can do after matric besides academics.
“They overcame so much and last year they lost their principal who invested so much in them,” said Kleynhans.
“There was a lot of change in the beginning of the year, and the late principal had a daughter doing matric.
“It was hard to get through it, but they made it against all odds.
“Some of the learners went through personal hardships, but they managed to pass,” said Kleynhans.
The school had 60 matriculants, and obtained 93.33% bachelor passes, 6.66% diploma passes and 117 distinctions in total.
“That means each and every learner at our school walked away with 1.95 distinctions,” said Kleynhans.
Pretoria News