After many years in the dog box, KwaBhekilanga High School seems to have turned a corner with a crisp performance of 97 percent in the 2013 matric results.
This performance propelled the school to the number one spot in the best school stakes in Alexandra. KwaBhekilanga dethroned one-time wonder, Realogile, relegating it to the bottom end of the stakes with a 70 percent pass rate. However, this was justified by the deputy principal Dingaan Kubheka, who boasted that the school had maintained its “consistency” in the 70s range.
KwaBhekilanga’s performance is due to a combination of factors, including input from the private sector, as well as the education department’s efforts to improve the quality of education in what used to be a dysfunctional school.
Government and private sector efforts started with the desire to replace the school principal and to find a leader with impeachable administrative and people management skills.
After years of feuding between pupils, teachers and the community of Tsutsumani, Sipho Mthethwa (principal between 2007 and 2008) was fired from the school, along with his two deputies and 12 teachers from a total of 47, and in came Kabelo Motshabi in May 2008.
After a few less turbulent months, Motshabi also left the school in August. The current principal, Jubera Selowa, then replaced Motshabi. Selowa was widely regarded as soft-spoken, but he was a firm disciplinarian who would be able to turn the somewhat unruly teacher-pupil culture of the school on its head.
Other measures to improve the quality of education at the school included the roping in of Pastors Bruce Weyers and Charmaine Smith of Imfundo and the Carelink Community Foundation.
Pastors Weyers and Smith introduced coaching workshops for teachers at KwaBhekilanga and other high schools in Alex and Ivory Park. Imfundo also provided the schools with mentors in the form of business executives who taught business skills to principals, thereby enabling them to run their schools effectively.
Today, as a top performing school that missed a 100 percent pass rate by only three percentage points, KwaBhekilanga has come a long way.
The order of performance is as follows:
1. Kwabhekilanga High School – 97.61%
2. Alexandra High School – 87.70%
3. East Bank High School – 86.80%
4. Minerva High School – 83.65%
5. Realogile High School – 70.22%
