Kenneth Mokgatlhe
Matric pupils at Phakedi High School in Mokgola Village near Zeerust are confident about their readiness for their final examinations due in October.
Despite the lack of learning resources such as a library or computer laboratory, learners in this school say they are using everything at their disposal to pass their examinations.
Phakedi High School is a rural school in the North West Province where pupils have to walk more than 2 kilometres from their different homes to get to the place of learning.
Omphile Mothoagae is no exception. The 17-year-old majoring in Geography, Life Sciences, and Agriculture stays with her unemployed mother, a single parent who is confident about her readiness for matric exams.
“I believe the year was so short, but I am ready. We have been holding study camps at the school, and we will have the last one before the commencement of examinations,” said Mothoagae.
According to Mothoagae, the Foondamate helped prepare her for the upcoming final examinations because she could download all previous question papers using the tool, which enabled her to study effectively.
“I do not know what I would have done without this app; it is useful for children like us from the rural schools which do not have libraries or computers.”
Foondamate is an artificial intelligence robot study tool on WhatsApp that supports matric learners with their studying materials and emotional and psychological support.
Mothoagae’s school, Phakedi High, had 104 learners in its class of 2022, and 86 managed to pass. The rural school produced 33 Bachelors, 23 Diplomas and 31 Higher Certificates.
Umalusi, the quality assurance body, appeared before the portfolio committee on education in parliament this week to present a preliminary report on the state of preparedness.
Umalusi’s Mary-Louise Madalane told the lawmakers that 855,607 matric candidates registered as of August 31, 723 877 were full-time learners.
And 18-year-old Tshepang Moremongwe is one of those full-time learners studying mathematics and physical science at a rural school in the North West.
Moremongwe said the revision papers were helping him where he needed help understanding what he was taught in class.
“Teachers are currently assisting us through revision, which does help me. We are using old question papers to revise, and we can ask questions where we do not understand,” Moremongwe said.
Moremongwe, who wants to be a teacher, stays with his grandmother and says he struggles to obtain other study material as he always needs money to buy data.
“Data is expensive, and I cannot do much with R5 data. We depend on my grandmother’s social grant, which is not enough to buy enough data or visit the library in Zeerust,” he added.
INSIDE EDUCATION
