The executive mayor of Ekurhuleni, Clr Mzwandile Masina writes:
We have come to the end of yet another academic year.
I know many of our youngsters have devoted a lot of time to ensuring that they pass this last hurdle in their schooling history.
Most of them have already set their sights on tertiary education and a great start to their adult life.
Equally so, teachers also gave it their all to ensure that these young members of our society pass their matric examinations.
On behalf of the city, having witnessed great stability in our schooling programme this year, we have no doubt that all the hard work that various stakeholders put in to the education of our children throughout the year will bear fruit come the pronouncement of the matric results at a later stage.
In the past couple of years, we have witnessed the education system in Gauteng migrating to digital, an innovation which was fully embraced by our pupils and teachers alike.
While the provincial government accelerated the roll-out of digital classrooms, on our side as a city we ensured the improvement of the accessibility of free Wi-Fi.
We have also resolved to increase the bursary purse from R10-million to R100-m in an effort to ensure that more deserving, but underprivileged, youngsters who do well in matric are accommodated for their tertiary studies.
The youth of Ekurhuleni have done us proud in matric examinations over the years and I have no doubt that we can expect yet another success story this time around.
To the parents, teachers and other stakeholders, we wish to thank you for the role you have played thus far in preparing the class of 2016.
Indeed, we all have a responsibility to breed an educated society.
Like Nelson Mandela once said: “Parents have the right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children. Make every home, every shack or rickety structure a centre of learning.”
At this point, on behalf of the City of Ekurhuleni, let me wish the class of 2016 the best as they tackle the matric examinations.
You are in our thoughts and prayers every step of the way.
Do not drop the ball now after having worked so hard throughout the year.
Give it one last push, and make all of us proud.
Remember, education is the answer to unemployment, poverty and inequality.
It all starts and ends with education.
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