Tracing top Form Six students

Smiles were written all over the faces of Form Six students when results were announced since majority had passed their national examinations by 98.87 per cent.

And when the National Examination Council of Tanzania (Necta) Executive Secretary Charles Msonde said 38,853 of 40,753 students who sat the exams did well, they got more excited.

According to Mr Msonde this was an indication that the education sector is set to record impressive achievements under the Big Results Now (BRN) initiative.

Public schools put up an impressive performance, contrary to expectations that private schools would do better. There are 13 public schools on the list of top 20 schools. Of those who sailed through, 11,734 were girls and 27,119 were boys.

The pass rate has risen each year due to the government’s efforts. Public and private schools shared five slots each on the list of top 10 performers.

Success had a chat with some of the students who are among top ten in the country and their parents as well.

Yohanaz Senkondo who was a top student from Feza School believes that God indeed answers prayers and says he was not surprised to be among the top ten students.

He adds that studying hard and discipline; focusing on priorities went a long way in cementing his efforts at school.

According to him, he usually woke up as early as 5.00 am, had a brief prayer after which he prepared himself for the school routine. Classes started at 7.00 am and ended at 1.00 pm. Thereafter, he would take a nap after lunch until around 3.00 pm whereby he would go for group discussions until 6.00 p.m. He allowed himself at least one hour of scripture reading. From around 7.00 pm he would be studying up to 10.00 pm after which he would retire to bed.

Yohanaz took physics, chemistry and biology at advanced level and aspires to take a medical degree at the university.

“I aspire to become a doctor after pursuing my medical degree at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUCHS). I believe that discipline and being God fearing person is the best way to achieve what you want including academic success,” said Yohanaz.

Ms Jeanette Senkondo, Yohanaz mother said she was surprised by the son’s results. Even though she knew that he would somehow pass, she never expected him to rank among the 10 top performers. She agrees that it was as a result of prayer, good judgment and hard work, determination and discipline that he made it. Of course not forgetting good upbringing.

“Since he was in kindergarten he was among top ten students. Besides, he was awarded for his discipline while in standard seven and form four,” Ms Senkondo says.

Ms Senkondo said she was proud of her son.

“I invested so much time in their studies and wellbeing since when they were in kindergarten. I took them to school and brought them back home everyday. We had quality time after classes for at least an hour before they went for their tuitions. At home I made sure they had done their homework and sometimes, I gave them some more. It was a combination of all these including play and scripture reading that became inculcated in the children that gave birth to discipline and hard work,” she says.

“My son was prayerful. I remember when he was in class four, I returned home and found him sleeping in the coach and asked him if he was fine only for him to tell me that he was fasting because he needed a Bible for his Sunday school. You can’t believe he got seven Bibles from different relatives,” Ms Senkondo says with pride.

She advises parents that nurturing children should not be neglected. “Women need to invest time with their children starting from zero age to seven years. When the child starts standard one, parents need to make follow-ups on what are their areas of interests at home and school.’’

However, Hunazya Salim Muhamed, the second runner up in science subjects from Feza High School was not surprised to have the high marks.

“I used to study hard and when I felt tired, I took time to relax. This was one of my strength,” she said.

Hunazya’s timetable was not different from Yohanaz. She woke up around 4:00 am and had a brief prayer after that she would prepare herself for the school routine.

“I do not remember studying till late at night, ” she says.

Now, Hunazya wants to pursue Bachelors degree in engineering. She advises other girls to be confident in studying science subjects like she did.

Hanazya’s father, Mr Salim Mohamed knows that it was his child’s self-determination that she had remarkable performance.

“I was keen to follow up her academic development with her teachers. That has partly contributed to her best performance in science subjects,” said Mr Mohamed.

For Ramadhani Gembe, featuring on the list of top ten best performers was something unexpected.

“I knew that I would pass but not to that extent,” he said.

Gembe finished standard seven in 2008 and was selected to join special school of Illbor, Arusha where he got division one with 11 points. He completed primary school at Mombo primary school.

He is now looking forward to studying hard to become a doctor after successfully scoring well in Physics, Chemistry and Biology (PCB) combination.

His father, Nurdin Gembe was very happy for his son’s performance together with his family.

“I expected to see my child performing well since he has never failed in his subjects,” he said.