Night Studies Pay off for Dunoon Matriculant

Sange Dastile from Dunoon in Cape Town obtained seven distinctions in matric, including physical sciences and mathematics.

• Studying in the early hours of the morning, when his mother and brother were asleep in their single room, Sange Dastile earned seven matric distinctions in 2024, including physical sciences and mathematics.
• Junior Nyirenda, also a learner at Sinenjongo High School in Joe Slovo Park, achieved seven distinctions and a near-perfect score in Life Sciences, with a 91% aggregate.
• Vuyisa Ntshanyana earned five distinctions, despite limited resources and a difficult school commute.
• Challenges, including violence in the community, did not stop students and staff from achieving impressive results.

Studying in the early hours of the morning, when his mother and younger brother were asleep in the one-room house they shared, Sange Dastile made his way to academic excellence. The 19-year-old from Zwezwe informal settlement in Dunoon, Cape Town, secured seven distinctions in matric and a place to study medicine this year at Stellenbosch University.

He says the cramped space his mother rented near the school in Joe Slovo – the single room is the kitchen, bedroom and study – presented its own set of challenges. Privacy was scarce; when he bathed, his mother had to step outside. Evenings often demanded patience as he waited for his mother to finish watching her favourite TV programmes before beginning his studies. He would work from 10pm to 3am.

Despite the odds, Dastile emerged among the top five achievers at Sinenjongo High School in Joe Slovo Park with an aggregate of more than 88% and distinctions in physical sciences, mathematics, English first additional language, computer applications technology, Xhosa home language, life sciences and life orientation.

He says he applied to Stellenbosch University, the University of Pretoria, Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University, and the University of the Free State. Each institution offered him a place to study medicine, but he chose Stellenbosch University, where he will study with a loan from the National Student Financial Aid Scheme.

Dunoon resident Vuyisa Ntshanyana, 18, also a learner at Sinenjongo High School, earned five distinctions.

He shares a backyard shack – one of five in the yard of an RDP house near the bustling taxi rank – with his father and sister. In spite of the stress of backyard shack living, he earned distinctions in physical sciences, mathematics, English first additional language, life sciences, and life orientation, achieving an aggregate of nearly 88%.

Ntshanyana’s mother died when he was 12, and his father struggles to support the family. It was often difficult to afford the R40 daily taxi fare to school in Joe Slovo Park, eight kilometres from Dunoon.

“I kept telling him to focus on school so he won’t have problems in life,” said his father, Phila Ntshanyana. “I made sure I provided transport for a minibus taxi. He studied when we all slept. I spent monthly close to R500.”

Phila Ntshanyana said he couldn’t contain his excitement when his son came home with his matric results, knowing he would be the first in their family to attend university. Overwhelmed with pride, he took his son’s results to work, sharing the news with his colleagues and showing it to his supervisor.

Now Vuyisa hopes to enter Stellenbosch University, to study chemical engineering.

If accepted, he plans to use this as a foundation before pursuing his ultimate goal of studying medicine.

Junior Nyirenda, 19, from Malawi, was also among the top five learners at Sinenjongo High.

Each morning, he began his day before dawn for a long commute from Gugulethu’s NY21 to Milnerton. At night, he poured his energy into his studies, a routine that paid off as he earned distinctions across all seven subjects. He achieved a near-perfect score in life sciences – just one percent shy of 100 – and an overall aggregate of more than 91%.

It was not easy, he says. “I’d get home at 7pm from school everyday. When I got home, I had to do homework for three hours. I had to wake up at 4am to make it for school at 7am. On many occasions I was late.”

He pays tribute to the teachers who guided him, his parents who supported him, and his friends among the top learners, whose determination inspired him to push harder. He plans to study electrical engineering at the University of Cape Town.

His mother, Spellina Nyirenda, says she watched her son wake up very early, travel far to school and study late. “I’d feel sorry for him, but I was even fasting for him. It is God who helped him,” she says.

School principal Khuselwa Nopote says the 2024 matric class achieved an 88% pass rate.

“While we didn’t meet our 90% target, the quality of the results speaks for itself, particularly in difficult subjects,” she says.

Nopote says the year brought problems, including community violence that prevented late-night study sessions at school.

“This year, we couldn’t allow students to stay until 10pm due to safety concerns,” she says.

Nonetheless, she says two mathematics teachers volunteered extra time to help struggling students.

“Although the number of learners far exceeds our teaching capacity, their dedication made a difference,” she says.

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