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Absenteeism and lack of support from some parents have undone a decade of work which saw a rural Limpopo school climb to the top with impressive matric results in recent years.
PP Hlungwani Secondary School in Green Farm, outside Malamulele, which dominated headlines last year with its impressive results for 2020, has now dropped, managing only a 73.3% pass rate for 2021.
The school recorded 97.2 % the previous year and produced Limpopo's top achiever Pearl Khosa, who attained six distinctions.
Reacting to last year's performance, school principal Thomas Chauke shook his head countless times in disappointment that his once-prestigious school had been relegated to fourth position in the Malamulele South circuit.
“I'm so disappointed. In fact, the entire community is not happy at all. To be frank with you, we had a high rate of absenteeism and when we called affected parents they wouldn't honour our meetings,” he said.
He said since 2012 the school had never scored such poor results.
“Our motto is that learning and teaching never cease until the final exam paper but the class of 2021 started not to come to class towards the end of the year. We also had a number of advanced-age pupils, some as old as 26, and they were making things difficult for us by not attending,” he said.
Chauke took over the helm of the school this year after former principal Richard Khosa retired.
A parent who wished not to be named said he had never missed a meeting and agreed that some parents had left everything in the hands of teachers.
“We all know the teachers are committed and every weekend our children are in classes learning. So if some pupils choose not to attend classes, obviously they will fail and parents will blame it on teachers,” he said.
Chauke defended himself and his colleagues, saying nothing had changed in terms of the style of leadership and traditions that Khosa entrenched.
“Our former principal left the school in a very good shape and he will do everything to help protect his legacy. I used my personal resources driving on gravel roads reaching out to some parents to talk to their children but as a teacher what do you do when a parent doesn't show interest?” he asked.
Yesterday, six Grade 12 classrooms were full with this year's matrics attending Sunday lessons to try arrest the decline in performance.
Thomas Hlungwani, chair of the school governing body, said in an effort to regain their status, the parents had resolved to meet quarterly, with the aim to be kept abreast of their children's schoolwork.
“We held a meeting last week where we agreed that we would meet teachers after each and every three months to monitor their work. We also asked the teachers to profile pupils who need intervention so we can assist,” he said.
Hlungwani said parents had further agreed to hire experienced teachers to assist children on weekends.
“We know locally there are schools which are good in maths, science or economics and we are going to request teachers of those subjects to assist us. We are very much hopeful that things will turn around for the best,” he said.
The school caters for pupils from Green Farm, Makhasa, Xibangwa and neighbouring villages.
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