Engen have announced the top learners for 2018 who attended the Engen Maths & Science School (EMSS) programme, and revealed that the matric EMSS class of 2018 attained an impressive 93% pass rate against the national pass rate of 78.2%.

The EMSS programme offers additional Maths, Science and English tuition every Saturday to learners from grades 10-12 at nine locations across South Africa. It is aimed at helping address South Africa’s key skills shortages in the engineering and technical fields.

The programme’s successful record of accomplishment speaks for itself with 67% of the 2018 EMSS matric class attaining bachelor passes against the national average of 43%.

All three top achievers for 2018 hailed from KwaZulu-Natal.  

The top national achiever was Thabiso Ndlovu of Velabahleke High School in Umlazi, who attended the EMSS programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.  Thabiso who is planning to study medicine this year, achieved an impressive 92% for science, 97% for maths and 86% for English.  

Second nationally was Msomi Zizile of Zwelibanzi High School, Umlazi who attended the EMSS programme at Mangosuthu University of Technology. Zizile scored a near perfect score of 98% in science, 89% for maths and 81% for English. She is planning to study either medicine or chemical engineering at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Third was Brenton Johnson from the Bluff, who attended Grosvenor Boys High. Brenton attended the EMSS programme at Fairvale Secondary School and will be studying for a Bachelor of Accounting Sciences at Varsity College, Westville Campus in 2019. Brenton achieved 94% for science, 83% for maths and 89% for English.

Engen’s Corporate Social Investment Manager, Adhila Hamdulay is delighted that Engen is giving many bright young learners the springboard to pursue their tertiary education in maths and science related fields.

Thabiso, Msomi and Brenton all three achieved a spectacular average of more than 90% for science.

Hamdulay says the EMSS programme seeks to better the future of talented young people in difficult circumstances and to contribute to the pool of scarce skills in the country.

“Starting off as Engen Saturday Schools over 30 years ago, EMSS is central to Engen’s efforts to contribute to the growth and transformation of the country. The programme has worked tirelessly to transform young lives and has, we believe, made a useful contribution to a more transformed and vibrant workforce.”

The 532 matric learners that came through Engen’s 2018 programme all had the benefit of financial support from the company, to capitalise on its offer of free extra tuition for grades 10-12. 

In many cases, students who go on to achieve excellent ‘bachelor passes’, allowing them to attend university, may also be eligible for Engen’s bursary programme, adds Hamdulay.

Equipping people with potential and drive to succeed in their careers sums up Engen’s approach to human resource management and education-focused corporate social investment programmes, says Engen’s head of transformation and stakeholder engagement, Unathi Njokweni-Magida.

“We identify, support, reward, recruit, train and develop high-potential candidates for fulfilling careers in skills-challenged fields, in support of SA’s transformational agenda and Engen’s own business.  We strongly believe that we have a responsibility to help young people realise their full potential, and we feel enormously privileged to have played a role in their impressive achievements.

Adds Njokweni-Magida: “We are also so incredibly proud of these learners, who epitomise the quality of the young people we work with around the country every year. Our ultimate reward is to help set them up to pursue stimulating careers that won’t only benefit them personally, but also the economy as a whole.”

The nine EMSS centres across South Africa offer classes at single locations in Johannesburg and  Cape Town, at three venues in the Eastern Cape (Port Elizabeth, East London and Cala), and at four in KwaZulu-Natal (Fairvale High School, Ganges High School, Mangosuthu University of Technology and the University of KwaZulu-Natal). Both Fairvale and Ganges EMSS centres based in achieved 100% pass rates in 2018. 

Engen congratulates the EMSS class of 2018 and offers a well-deserved round of applause to the learners and teachers.