A 28-year-old Eastern Cape school principal is being hailed as a hero after steering his under-resourced rural school from a 28% matric pass rate in 2018 to an impressive 88.6% in 2021.

 
District education authorities urgently roped in Abonga Mdze in as a teacher in 2019, after the school’s dismal performance the year before.

He taught Maths and Science at another school.

At the time, the school achieved 0% for Maths and Science, and authorities wanted him to turn things around.

He was made the head of department and managed to improve the results for Maths to 35% and 43% for science in 2019.

The school’s overall pass rate was boosted to 45%.

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After the principal retired in 2020, young Mdze was appointed as the acting principal.

Morning and evening classes were introduced, followed by revisions over weekends, and the school achieved an impressive 66% pass rate.

This prompted the education department to appoint him permanently as a principal in 2021.

Abonga Mdze
Ngqalwa Secondary School principal Abonga Mdze.
Supplied
Supplied
The school had 35 candidates that sat for the matric exams in 2021 and of that number only 4 failed.

“Twenty learners received bachelors [passes], meaning 65% of our learners got bachelor passes. Eight got diploma passes, meaning 25% got diplomas, while 10% of our learners or 3 got higher certificates,” Mdze said.