Corpun file 23854

The Times of Swaziland, Mbabane, 5 January 2012

Swazi National High shines

By Timothy Simelane

(extracts)

MATSAPHA -- Swazi National High School outshone other schools in terms of the number of high performing pupils in the top 50 performers of the 2011 Junior Certificate Examination.

The school, also referred to as Matsapha High School, managed to put 11 pupils on the Merit list including the joint top pupil Thembela Shabangu [pictured right, with his mother at her fruit stall], an orphaned 17-year-old boy who scored 95 per cent.

With 36 Merits it was the highest they had since 2009 and their lowest number of fails with only one since last year when they had four and 20 in 2009.

Alec Simelane, the principal, said while most schools closed because government failed to pay school fees for OVC on time last year, lessons were not interrupted at Swazi National.

[...]

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Swazi National High School is one of the largest schools, with seven streams from Forms 1-III and six streams from Form IV to V. The number of pupils is estimated at 1 500 and there are 73 teachers.

Simelane said disciplinary issues are not so rife at Swazi National, saying they do not spoil the child by sparing the rod.

"We use corporal punishment here because otherwise we cannot maintain good discipline. However, it is not always the case that corporal punishment is the answer. Some pupils persist with misconduct even if you beat them," he said.

[...]