Five black matric pupils from Mpumalanga have won bursaries to study either in Malaysia or at local universities.
PHILLIP MOROBI reports
MPUMALANGA’S top five black matric pupils won bursaries to study either in Malaysia or at local universities on Thursday, African Eye News Service reports.
All five pupils hail from rural schools in some of the province’s least developed areas.
Mpumalanga Premier Ndaweni Mahlangu met the pupils on Thursday to announce that Telkom would sponsor two bursaries to Malaysia’s most prestigious technical institute for international degrees in telecommunications and information technology.
The private sector would also sponsor another pupil to study at the University of Zululand, while Mahlangu said he would award the remaining two pupils a Premier Bursary Awards each to study at any South African university of their choice.
“These learners need to be rewarded because they come from schools that are overcrowded with almost no resources. They have managed to succeed even with this legacy,” said Mahlangu.
The overawed pupils were so excited by the bursaries that they had difficulty saying which careers they would pursue. All promised to return to Mpumalanga after their studies to repay their communities by working locally.
Absalom Derek Nkosi (18) and Patrick Xolani Khumalo (18) both hail from Eerstehoek near the province’s border with Swaziland, while Philemon Ngobeni (17) and Hendrick Maisela Maakamedi (17) both come from rural trust schools near Groblersdal. Frederick Seale Lethuba (18) lives in KwaMhlanga, north of Witbank. None of the pupils were, however, amongst the province’s top ten matriculants.
All ten top pupils were white and attended private or former Model C schools. “It is very difficult to say exactly why there were no black learners in the top ten but the fact that black people have always in the past been at a disadvantage in terms of access to decent education much play some role,” he said. “Black teachers have also always been more poorly trained in subjects such as science and mathematics than their white counterparts.” Mahlangu said this was slowly changing and said it was therefore important to recognise those pupils who were breaking free of Apartheid’s legacy.
— African Eye News Service, January 28, 2000.