The top achievers of the Engen Maths and Science Schools programme, are from left, Fatima Olday, in third place, Lethabo Madlebe in second place and Azraa Esau in first place.
First-year Stellenbosch University medicine student Azraa Esau, from Manenberg, says all the effort she put into her matric year has paid off, as she is living her dream.
Azraa, 18, who attended Saturday classes at the Belgravia centre of the Engen Maths and Science Schools (EMSS) programme during her matric year, scored the highest marks for English, maths and science at that centre.
She was among those honoured at the Cape Town awards ceremony at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, on Saturday February 18.
Grade 10 to 12 pupils who were part of the EMSS programme, from the two Cape Town centres, Belgravia High in Athlone and Manzombotho High in Mfuleni, were honoured.
Azraa matriculated from Rylands High last year and achieved seven distinctions.
In second place was Lethabo Madlebe, the daughter of an Engen employee, who travelled all the way from Welgelegen to attend the Belgravia EMSS Centre and achieved four distinctions and a place to study architecture at UCT
In third place at the Belgravia EMSS Centre was Rylands High pupil Fatima Olday. She achieved seven distinctions and is studying medicine at Stellenbosch University.
Azraa advised this year’s matrics to do plenty of revision.
“Even if you are doing the same thing, practise it, it can be just as rewarding as learning something new. Also remember to make time for breaks.”
Fatima advises matrics to “work hard, do your homework, get assignments done on time, and ask your teachers if you don’t understand something”.
The Engen EMSS programme announced a 96.7% pass rate, of which 72% achieved Bachelor passes across South Africa. This despite pupils being hit with over 200 days of power cuts and being the hardest hit by the pandemic when it broke in their Grade 10 year.
Engen’s manager of transformation and stakeholder engagement Dr James Nyawera said the programme emphasised maths and science.
“These subjects are considered critical in addressing the country’s technical and engineering skills shortage as well as spurring economic growth and development,” he said.
According to the Department of Basic Education, more pupils are opting to write maths literacy, which increased by 108 642 pupils between 2020 and 2022, compared to pure maths, which only increased by 36 419 pupils over that time. Pupils who passed pure maths also dipped from 57.6% in 2021 to 55% in 2022.