
A rural school in northern South Africa has risen from 28% to 98.2 matric pass rate, a turnaround that has made it the pride of the community and one of the best-performing educational institutions in the country.
Within three years, Mashooro High School in Bolobedu, outside Tzaneen in the Limpopo Province, transformed itself from one of the worst-performing schools into a centre of excellence.
Situated at Ga-Mokgwathi Village, the school’s matric pass rate rose from an embarrassing 28% in 2021 to 100% in 2023, dropping slightly to 98,2% in 2024.
According to Freddy Mohatli, chairperson of the Mashooro High School Governing Body (SGB), the 100% pass rate was the first in the school’s 35-year history.
The SGB, teachers, and community members have attributed Mashooro High School’s impressive results to an intentional turnaround strategy implemented in 2022 by then-acting Principal Lucky Ramakatsa Mateta.
They said Mateta, who retired at the end of 2023, laid the foundation and worked closely with teachers such as Kgabo Komape and Mabore Mhlongo.

The turnaround strategy rallied all parents, learners, and teachers behind a single-action program supported by the Limpopo Department of Education’s Mawa circuit manager, Azwinndini Musekene.
It included evening classes, school holiday camps, and weekend extra lessons anchored on previous matric question papers. They said parents contributed funds towards meals and transport for the grade 12 learners attending evening classes and volunteered as security guards to maintain law and order.
Mhlongo, a teacher with 31 years of experience, said Mashooro High School teachers and parents intentionally aimed to turn things around after years of underperformance. Before 2022, the school was the laughingstock of the community for consistently achieving embarrassing matric results, she said.
This included the 28% matric pass rate of 2021.
“From last year, we decided that learners should remain at the school until ten o’clock at night (22:00) studying. We also gathered as many previous question papers as possible and created a basement of question papers. We think controlling that workflow and making them write tests assisted a lot. Their performance was so low in the past because they never studied at home after school. So, we decided it best to keep them at the school until ten at night. We did the same thing even a year before last (2023). It worked for us,” said Mhlongo.


She said the outstanding results surprised the teachers as the community.
“We never thought they could perform like this. But we monitored them closely because if you were to tell them to study by themselves at night, they would fall asleep. So, we watched them closely until 10 at night. We started at 6 am the following morning, giving us an hour to study before school began. So these are the things we think helped them to pass,” Mhlongo added.
The turnaround strategy has worked.
Mashooro High School achieved a 98.2 % matric pass rate after all but one of its 56 matriculants passed. Mhlongo said the learner who failed had struggled with health issues in the first half of the year, which kept her in hospital for five months.
She said some parents were initially sceptical about the evening lessons, especially the financial implications, which required them to make a R300 quarterly contribution per grade 12 learner for meals and transport.
However, the recent outstanding matric results galvanised the community and made Mashooro High School the pride of the community.
“The community is so happy now. Some parents were initially reluctant to support the program, especially regarding contributing towards transport and meals. But they were so excited after they saw their children performing well. They had lost hope, but now, they are so proud of Mashooro High. Wherever you go, there is a positive vibe about the school. Even when you walk in the streets, parents would stop you just to say, ‘thank you’. The parents are so happy,” added Mhlongo.
“In 2021, our pass rate was 28%. Then came the likes of Mr Mateta. We started with the extra lessons, involved the learners and started seeing the improvements.”


On January 14, Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube announced that the class of 2024 had achieved an unprecedented national pass rate of 87.3%. The Free State province came first at 91%, followed by KwaZulu-Natal at 89.5% and Gauteng at 88.4%.
Limpopo came sixth at 84.9%, and all the provinces scored more than 84% in the 2024 National Senior Certificate results.
Vhuyeya Pinky Baloyi, Mashooro High School’s principal, praised her staff for helping the learners reach their full potential and was impressed by the quality of the results. Thirty pupils passed with bachelors, 20 with diplomas, and four with certificates.
Baloyi said the ripple effects of the school’s 2024 matric results were already being felt.
“The results are impressive and make us very proud. They mean a lot to me and the community, not only to us as adults but also to the grade 11 learners, who are so motivated. Let me tell you, we have already started with the grade 12 lessons. We started last week,” a proud Baloyi said.
“Yesterday [January 20], they were studying until six o’clock because they were telling themselves they want to emulate what their brothers and sisters have done.”

Baloyi, who took over as principal in July last year, said she strove to continue Mashooro High School’s culture of excellence. In addition to guiding learners in the classrooms, teachers contributed meal and transport funds for 10 learners from poor families.
Speaking to African Times after the 2023 matric results were released, Baloyi’s predecessor, Mateta, said he was proud to have led Mashooro High School’s turnaround and helped restore community confidence in the school.
“When I was appointed acting principal, the school had just achieved a 28% pass rate. But I refused to accept that Ga-Mokgwathi was a community of failures. I refused to accept that all these learners were incapable of passing, and that all these teachers were incapable of producing good results. That’s why we implemented a new strategy and culture at the school, working with Ms Mhlongo, Ms Komape, and other teachers. And I am happy today that our interventions have produced a 100% pass rate,” Mateta said.
Komape, one of the key players in Mashooro High School’s turnaround strategy, attributed success to dedication, hard work and a sense of purpose among the teachers and learners.
“It was not easy, but we did it. We spent sleepless nights and arranged holiday camps and evening classes to try and help the learners. I am proud of what we achieved. It shows that nothing is impossible if we work hard, remain focused and support each other,” said Komape, who left Mashooro High School in the middle of 2024 after being appointed principal at the nearby Ga-Wally Village.

Mohatli, Mashooro High School’s SGB chairperson, praised parents for supporting the school’s quest to become a centre of excellence and the community’s pride.
“The miracle that happened here in 2024 and the year before last has never happened since the school was established in 1989. We thank God, the teachers, and the learners for making it possible. You will recall that when we achieved 100% in 2023, the school did not even have a principal. But we proved something that surprised even the department,” said Mohatli.
“As the SGB, we are happy with the 98.2% pass rate. Our wish was for another 100%, but we are happy nonetheless. Our challenge was that one of the learners spent many months in hospital. We are proud as the SGB because we can see that everybody is working hard at the school.”
Mohlatli said the community was grateful to Mateta and others for laying a solid foundation for the school’s new path.
“We owe our gratitude to the then-acting principal, Mr Mateta, and the teachers who started this revival—working with Ms Mhlongo, Ms Komape, other teachers and the parents of the grade 12. They instilled a new culture and helped learners reach their full potential.”
“Those parents and I camped at the school until ten at night, from six in the morning, to ensure that things ran smoothly and there was security,” the SGB chairperson added.


He also praised Musekene, saying she brought a winning mentality and renewed energy to the Mawa Circuit.
“The circuit managers have been appointed here before, but what is happening at Mawa Circuit has never happened before. Musekene brought the earners from different schools under one roof and exposed them to the skills of different teachers from other schools.”
“She also introduced circuit awards for the best-performing learners each term, motivating learners. She played a huge role with her strategies,” Mohatli stressed.
He appealed for donations from Good Samaritans to improve school infrastructure.
This included sports grounds and a kitchen where they prepare meals for the learners, and to cover the costs of hosting evening classes and holiday camps for grade 12 learners.
Israel Elijah Mohatli, a community member and chairperson of the ANC’s Lemowa branch (which includes Ga-Mokgwathi), said they remained shocked and excited in equal measures by Mashooro High School’s recent matric results.

Added Israel Elijah Mohatli: “We are over the moon; we are excited and jubilated by the good performance by everybody in that school. The collaborative effort of the parents and the teacher component, including the learner representatives and the learners in general. This achievement started as a surprise last year when the school achieved 100% after so many, many years.”
“Today, for the second time, it’s at 98.2%, which is still a great achievement because they just dropped by a smaller proportion of the percentage. All in all, they performed very well, and we are happy. We encourage them to continue doing the good work for our community.”