SILIKAMVA HIGH SCHOOL: FROM 40% TO 100% PASS RATE

IN A packed school hall in Hout Bay, the atmosphere was thick with nerves, pride and disbelief as the Class of 2025 at Silikamva High School waited for their matric results.

- MURRAY SWART

In 2019, Silikamva's matric pass rate stood at just over 40%. and on results day, it became the setting for history: a 100% matric pass rate, the first since the school opened its doors in 2013.

For many of the learners, this hall had been a place of pressure just weeks earlier, rows of desks filling the space as final exams loomed.

For a Quintile 3 no-fee school serving the informal settlement of Imizamo Yethu, the milestone carries weight far beyond percentages.

Principal Siphathisiwe Nkahla-Nkohla described the results as a defining moment. "The results are quite an achievement for us. Our pass rate was around 40% in 2019, but it has been going up, so this is a big one," she said.

She credits the improvement to a deliberate culture shift.

"The secret to our success is making the learners know that education matters. Our teachers are phenomenal and are always here working. Seeing them over the weekends is a norm at our school, so we have been able to adopt a true culture of learning.

"We look at our data at the end of every term and analyse our results to see where we are going wrong and which subjects aren't doing so well, so we can come up with strategies to improve."