Despite all the odds, the Marikana Schools situated in Marikana in the North West province, continue to produce good results.

The learners who are mostly from the informal settlements are committed to their studies.

The Marikana High School takes pride in its academic, socio-economic and cultural diversity.

The school ensures that all the learners are congratulated for their efforts and dedication to achieving personal success.

The Marikana High School enjoys multiple accolades, parents reviews and exceptional ratings from all corners of the community, and all that is made possible by a dedicated Principal Me Moeng and 23 dedicated teachers.

During a recent visit at the school, School Deputy Principal Vuyani Sihele, told SAnews that the school has a total of 250 learners.

He explained that the school initially used to produce 100 percent pass rate but as time goes by, the results started declining and now stand at 84 percent.

“After the Marikana incident, the results started declining but the teachers are doing their best to maintain the high pass rate,” he said.

He urged parents to be fully involved in their children’s education as he believes that this would improve the results to be much better.

Sihele urged parents to always encourage their children to do their school work and study.

“We as teachers working together with the parents, can produce far much better results,” he said.

Sihele said some of the learners are from child-headed families and despite that are doing well in their studies.

At nearby Marikana 2 Primary School, School Principal Andrew Phuza, told SAnews that the school has a total of 1039 learners and 27 educators.

The school was built by Lonmin mining company in 2018. This was to relieve pressure from the Marikana High School as the learners were accommodated at the school.

The learners’ performance is good and the teachers are doing their best to assist the learners,” Phuza said.

Since the school opened the doors, it has been a place where learners in the North West and beyond, ethnic and cultural diversity.

According to Phuza, crime in the area does not deter learners and teachers from focusing on education.

“We appeal to members of the community to assist by identifying those that are involved in criminal acts, vandalizing and stealing from the school,” he said.

Phuza said although they have about 200 undocumented learners, their performance is good.

Evelyn Seloale Botsheleng told SAnews that the learners at the school are performing very well.

“Although some of them do not understand Setswana, they are doing very well. We appeal to parents to teach the learners setswana,” Botsheleng said.

Member of the School Governing Body, Victor Molele, told SAnews that he is happy with the school.

“The school recently obtained a clean audit. I am happy that we are using the school monies in a good way. That shows staff dedication in their work,” Molele said.

The nationalities in Marikana includes Lesotho nationals, Mozambique and Xhosa speaking people. The majority of them are employed at the nearby Sibanye mine.

Most of the learner’s parents are working at the nearby Lonmin mine. Most learners lost their parents (fathers) in 2012 during a stand off with the police. More than 30 people were shot and killed by the police.

The Marikana massacre resulted in thirty-four miners losing their lives on 16 August 2012.

At the time of the incident, the miners were heading back to the koppie where they had been gathering daily to protest for a salary increase to R12 500 a month during the wildcat strike.

Source: South African Government News Agency