Cape Town - The Western Cape achieved an overall matric pass rate of 82.8% which was well above the national average of 72.1%, and one of the schools which helped the province shine bright was Spine Road High School in Mitchells Plain whose teachers, pupils and parent body was overjoyed at its 100% pass mark.
School principal Riyaad Najaar, who finished off at the end of 2017, said he was overjoyed at what the class of 2017 achieved in the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations.
"This is the best going away present for me and we are so thankful that these children will be assets to our community in terms of 160 of them having been accepted at tertiary institutions," Najaar said.
He said the results showed that it doesn't matter where you come from, you always need to aspire to be the best and that anything you set your mind to can be done as long as learners overcome their challenges and not fall prey to excuses.
Many students could not contain themselves as they were overwhelmed with both sadness for leaving their high school lives behind to embark on a bigger journey and also joy at having excelled during the exams.
Top performer La'eeqa Martin said: "I was a bundle of nerves the whole time, probably since last year I would say, just to find out my results. I can honestly see now that all of my worries was worth it and I have no words to describe how grateful I am to actually say that I am a top learner."
She added that she is also very grateful to her family and friends and everyone that always supported her.
"I am planning on doing a bachelor of science at the University of Cape Town along the lines of genetics so hopefully that would be my steady plan but if anything changes I'm open to it," Martin said.
Naeelah Saul, who experienced several challenges which caused her to miss a year of school and then having to return to redo her Grade 11 year, could not suppress her excitement at passing.
"Leading up to this day I was filled with so many emotions not knowing what to expect, but it is a relief knowing that our school has a 100 percent pass rate. Coming this far wasn't easy and studying was a challenge but at the end of the day we conquered and came this far and overcame many of our challenges," Saul said.
She said she will be furthering her studies and will continue to set higher goals and work hard to pursue and build her future career.
Najaar added: "I am extremely ecstatic and happy for the teachers especially and the children, as well as our parents who have done so much to ensure their children reach and do well in matric."