SA's top 100 schools

By Caelyn Woolward

The Sunday times recently released a survey of the top 100 schools in South Africa. The school rated number one is Weterford High in Cape Town followed by Westville Girls' High in Durban and Pretoria's Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool. The survey also found that 94 of the top 100 schools are former model C schools.
Uhm, I’m sorry but I honestly cannot be the ONLY person not surprised by this. The blame cannot solely be placed on the government or on the schools. Granted, not many schools have the resources that Westerford has but it has been proven that hard-work, dedication and parent involvement can make up for this lack of resources.
Coming from someone who at least has an idea of the politics within a high school, I would say (and I’ve put a lot of though into this) that the people most to blame for students not performing to their full potential are the parents.
Another interesting aspect is that although Westerford is pricey (the annual school fees is around R15 000) schools such as Hilton or Crawford College, where parents literally go bankrupt trying to pay school fees, are nowhere near the top ten.
The school s which are not former model C schools but have made it into the top 100 include Mbilwi Secondary, Metropolitan-Raucall and the Cape Academy of Mathematics, Science and Technology.
This survey will either wake some parents out of their stupor or it will give them even more of an excuse to blame the government or the school.Let’s hope it’s the former.