While mathematics was the root cause of many frustrations for Grade 12 learners, Thabiso – who completed his schooling career at Maxeke Secondary School in Evaton, kept his calm and focused on his dream of becoming an actuarial scientist.
The Ikateleng journey to success
Apart from his “no distractions lifestyle” and a razor-sharp focus on his studies, the eighteen year old who hails from also attributes his outstanding performance to the help and impact of the North-West University’s Ikateleng Project.
"I'm not ashamed to say the only places I went to frequently during my final school exam were school, church and the library because it made me focus more on my studies, which is why I received good results in all my subjects, including getting full marks in mathematics and 93% in physical science,” he said
His achievement in mathematics comes as no surprise – he has always had a knack for figures. In 2015 when he joined Ikateleng as a Grade-11 pupil, he received an award for top performance in the same subject. Thabiso initially joined the Ikateleng project in an effort to up his lagging physical science marks, but the project went on to play an instrumental role in his overall achievement.
The overly excited Thabiso says what is exciting about the Ikateleng Project is that learners are being taught by highly skilled teachers within a conducive learning environment.
“In Ikateleng you meet learners from different schools with different mindsets and that creates healthy competition between the groups which in turn encourages one to work even harder,” he says.
According to Jabu Sithole, Marketing Officer at the Vanderbijlpark Campus and Ikateleng Project Coordinator, the project obtained a 100 % pass rate in 2016, thus contributing towards the Gauteng Province’s overall pass rate of 87%.
“We are proud to say for the past two consecutive years we have been able to maintain our standard of a 100% pass rate and we intend to keep it that way” he said.
Thabiso’s future plans
For Thabiso, the future certainly looks bright. Upon completing his three year degree, his plans to study further towards his Honours before joining the industry. He says he also plans to venture into motivational talks, where he will be sharing study tips with high school scholars. He is currently studying towards a degree in Actuarial Science at Wits University.
More about the Ikateleng Project
For close to thirty years, the Ikateleng Project of the North-West University (NWU) has undeniably been at the forefront of supplementary teaching to help high school learners overcome their educational challenges, particularly the grade 12s.
This teaching project is aimed at offering qualitative extra tuition to these learners with a view to improving their pass rate. Every year, subjects such as Mathematics, Accounting, Economics, Business Economics, Physical Science, Biology and English are taught to these learners mainly on Saturdays.
