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Diepsloot Secondary School Number 2 and 3, headed by Principal Mmatebogo Makhubedu is a beacon of hope in this community, which is generally known for its high crime rate and gangsterism.
Makhubedu has proven that excellence has no special address as she has continued to produce an impressive matric pass rate since 2016.
The school saw a 100 percent pass rate from 2016 to 2020, and a 98 percent pass rate in 2021, and the school was recognised by Gauteng MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi at the recent matric awards ceremony.
How she does it
To ensure that learners excel in their work and are not exposed to drugs, gangsterism and street bashes, Makhubedu has introduced night and weekend study sessions for Grade 11 and 12 learners.
The learners are kept at school from 7 am to 4:30 pm.
The Grade 12 learners return for evening study sessions at 5 pm and are transported home at 10 pm.
Her strategy has yielded good results.
This has seen the school climb from a 54 percent matric pass rate in 2014.
In 2021, out of 158 students who wrote their matric exams, 122 passed with entry to a Bachelor’s degree, 34 diploma passes and six certificates.
“Diepsloot is in the middle of poverty and no parent is paying school fees there. Education is free,” said Lesufi.
Despite the living conditions in this area, the school produced excellent results, Lesufi said.
Ills of society not a deterrent
“Gangsterism is a problem. Our children (learners) survive because they are here. We try to keep them here at
school because there’s gangsterism and drugs in the township. When it’s the weekend, these children forget
about school. They only remember school on Monday, so we try to keep them at school most of the time. I
don’t want them to spend most of their time in the township,” she said.
“Gangsters from different extensions fight against each other. They wait for each other at the gates after school. I have lost many learners, and three in Grade 12 (died). It hasn’t been easy, it has been tough. But currently, it is better because we can manage. The problem is in the township, but it affects the school.”
Not only have the learners suffered at the hands of criminals, but the school has also been affected.
The school was recently vandalised, “they even broke into the toilets and the purpose was to destroy”.
Makhubedu said: “It takes us backwards because instead of progressing, we utilise the funding that we receive to repair the damages at the school.”
But these setbacks have not deterred this leader, her team of educators and learners strive for excellence.
Turning the tide
Makhubedu, who has been heading the school since 2015, said:“Other schools close at 3 pm. So, when our children (learners) leave school at 4:30 pm everybody is gone.
They are tired, and they just want to go home.
Therefore, they do not have time to mingle with the gangs.”
Grade 12 learners said they were grateful to the school, their principal and teachers for introducing evening
and weekend study sessions to protect them from crime.
“Thank you to Mme Makhubedu we are not in gangs. When we come back from school, we are already tired
and we want to go home not to join gangs,” said the Grade 12 learners.
Makhubedu explained that while she was deputy in 2014, the school had underperformed.
“I think we got a 54 percent matric pass rate,” recalled Makhubedu. Based on her observation of the situation, she realised that although teachers were doing their work, it had emerged that the “learners were not studying”.
Out of concern and to work towards improving the matric results, she held meetings with the School
Governing Body (SGB).
“I said to the SGB, we need to change the status quo.” She requested the relevant stakeholders to permit her
“to introduce night study so that we can monitor the learners”.
Based on the outcome of the meetings, she raised her concerns with the teachers and presented ideas to
them, whilst the SGB communicated with parents.
This was propelled by the fact that although learners had alleged that they were studying, their matric results
proved otherwise.
“If they are saying they are studying but it does not translate to something tangible, then we want to see how
they are studying.”
Requesting the teachers to commit to extra work involved money to compensate them.
“I said, I do not want them to teach at that hour (evening) because they taught the learners during the day.
Therefore, the only thing that they will do is to monitor them at that time.”
Enforcing the night study strategy yielded positive results.
“From that year (2014) we moved from a 54 percent to a 94 percent pass rate in 2015. Then I thought to myself, ‘this strategy is working’. We saw ourselves increase (number of matric learners enrolled at the school) and we saw a quality improvement.”
“In 2019, we produced 60 percent Bachelor’s passes, 65 percent in 2020 and 77 percent in 2021. From 2016 to
2020 we produced a 100 percent matric pass rate and 98 percent in 2021.”
The 2 percent drop, came as a shock, but she explained that the situation was beyond their control.
“Sometimes when you do things you don’t necessarily know the outcome. You are just trying your best and
want learners to pass,” said Makhubedu.
Apart from the effort with learners’ studies, she emphasised that another contributing factor to the quality of
results stemmed from “self-discipline”.
“I believe in self-discipline and we have instilled that in our children.”
The school’s Commerce HOD, Jack Supe, said teachers would identify topics that learners were experiencing
challenges with and perfect them. A learner would then be given special attention on the topic that they do
not understand.
“Our teachers do not mind helping the learners during the week and on weekends. They would start the topic
afresh to make sure that the learners understand what they were struggling with. They do not get frustrated
from teaching and repeating the topic to accommodate the learners,” said Supe.
Supe said the secret to the school’s success was teamwork among the teachers.
“There’s unity in the school and that is one thing that she (Makhubedu) believes in.”
– Inside Education