Hard work earns good grades Having to walk 10 kilometres to and from school every day has not demotivated Aaron Immanuel from achieving his goal of getting an education. The 16-year-old learner of Mvula Secondary School at Omaalala village in the Oshana Region scored 37 points in the Junior Secondary Certificate (JSC) examinations of 2016.
The pass mark for the JSC is 23 points. Immanuel is one of 19 out of 52 learners who sat for the examinations at their school this year and passed.
Immanuel has the highest points amongst those who passed, and he said it was not easy to achieve.
In a telephonic interview with Nampa last week, Immanuel said he studied beyond memorising information.
“I studied to understand and not to memorise,” he said confidently.
Immanuel, who has two younger sisters, wants to become a chartered accountant.
He lives with his aunt at the village, while his mother works in Rundu and his father near Otavi.
“My mother is a bar lady in Rundu and my dad works as a foreman at B2Gold mine; he does not really earn that much.”
He said he is grateful for everything his parents are doing and is motivated by his living conditions to achieve something great.
“Sometimes my teacher will say you can be born poor but if you die poor, that is entirely on you.”
Immanuel also expressed gratitude towards his teachers who made an effort to create an environment conducive for learners to study, including allowing them to camp at school before the exams.
He said camping at the school meant he could study at night.
A head of department at Mvula Secondary School, Olivia Nghidilepo, told Nampa that before and during the examinations, the grade 10 learners camped at the school to avoid having to walk long distances. Their homes do not have electricity, which is needed for studying at night.
Nghidilepo said the school lacks proper teaching facilities such as a laboratory and library.
“This situation had led to some learners not coming to school often, which interfered with teachers' work.”
She said the school's pass rate in the JSC had dropped from 38% in 2015 to 36.5% in 2016.
Immanuel encouraged other learners who are experiencing similar hardship to not give up, and to work hard for a brighter future.
-Nampa
LINEA DISHENA