Panorama matriculant awarded with academic excellence

Dual Shonisani Ramabuda (20) from Kempton Panorama School was awarded the Godfrey Pitjie Academic Excellence Award for Top LSEN learner following the difficult 2020 academic year.

LSEN is a subject that focusses on Learners with Special Educational Needs for which the award catered to three different categories of learners who shared the same title under this subject.

For Dual, the lockdown interim from school was welcomed until parents nationwide started nagging their children.

“By that time, I craved to go back to school and upon returning we could sense the uncertainty from our teachers. “Like our Afrikaans teacher, Juffrou Muller, is elderly and you could tell she was so anxious. But she came to school every day and even went to extraordinary lengths of teaching individuals if they felt ill or for whatever reason.”

Dual told Express that he will miss the diversity that was harnessed within the school grounds where a sense of community was shared among Afrikaans, Zulu, Sotho, Xhosa and many more languages.

“We as students will crack jokes about our different cultures and races and we would take it as such, being jokes. That’s how we broke our barriers despite the fact that we came from different backgrounds.”

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He will be facing reality in 2021 as he attempts to carve out a career plan. “I’m looking for a job so I’ll be able to pay for my studies because I can’t rely on the government, it’s not even an option. Once I’ve saved enough to put down a deposit on my studies, I would go to Unisa to study for a bachelors in business administration while majoring in media studies.

“I’m passionate about business and changing the narrative in South Africa, like venture capitalist Vusi Thembekwayo. The narrative change I would like to enforce is one of informed discourse since a lot of people in the township, for instance, are not sure what terms like ‘left wing’ even means.”

He aspires to open up people’s minds to be enlightened of what an impact it would make for his fellow citizens to simply vote in elections and ridding themselves of the “promise” that the government owes its people.

Dual was not exempted from challenges as he suffered from severe epileptic attacks in his formative years during Grade One. “It was hectic to such an extent that I missed my foundation phase education and when I returned to school to continue, they said I would have to catch up first. This was a challenge on its own as government schools are particular about age placements in their phases.”

He reminisced of how a teacher, Juffrou McArthur, was a saving grace by acknowledging that he wasn’t disabled and stood a chance of breaking into a mainstream school. Enter Kempton Panorama School that accepted Dual and helped him build on his foundation to eventually achieving such an award.

“Not only do I have a matric qualification, but Panorama taught me a skill in woodwork. “I want to thank all my teachers for every single effort and investment they poured into me, especially our principal, Mr Dimitri Theron. He has transformed the school into a great institution.”

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