St Boniface no longer dominates

St Boniface no longer dominates Only one pupil among JSC top performers Breaking with what has become something of a tradition, St Boniface College surprised with only one learner reaching the top ten Grade 10 list. In 2013 six of St Boniface College's learners were among the country's best Grade 10 performers, and although more than 16 000 Grade 10 learners failed in 2014, St Boniface was not affected as they were the best performing school in for that grade in the country that year. In 2015 three pupils from the school made it to the top ten list for Grade 10 learners. Surprisingly enough, only one made it to the top performing list this year.

Speaking to Namibian Sun Shilongo Ndeshipanda, the only learner from the school that made the list, said she believes the school performs well because of the teachers and dedication and hard work from the pupils. “We had a lack of teamwork this year, but we all did exceptionally well individually,” commented Shilongo on why she thinks she is the only one in the top ten this year.

Blessing Chizengeya, one of the top performing Grade 12 students in the country, and who attributes the school's good performance to strict rules that have resulted in the learners being well-disciplined, said “We know when to have fun and when to study.”

He said he wished to have seen more of his peers on top of the log of the JSC top ten list but believes they studied hard and it was just unfortunate, saying other learners from other schools might have worked harder than them.

A former pupil who preferred to remain anonymous subscribes the drop in the numbers to the learners. “I doubt it has anything to do with administration. Maybe the learners did not study hard enough this year,” said the alumnus. Patrick Chipanga, a teacher from the school attributes the school's good performance to teamwork between teachers and learners and the discipline the school principal has managed to instil in learners.

“From our side we are also shocked that only one learner from our school is the top ten nationally. It is something we have to look at and if need be, we need to improve so we retain our status as number one,” said Chipanga.



MICHAEL KAYUNDE