28 May 2011
Programme Directors, Mr Dube, thank you!
Chairperson of Council, Mr Clive Kau; Honourable Council members in attendance; Reverend Mulder and Mrs Mulder; Mr Siya Mapoko - Founder and Chief Researcher of Mapoko Research International and Author of the inspirational book 'Conversations with JSE AlTx Entrepreneurs', who we are honoured and delighted to have with us as Guest Speaker this morning. Mr Mapoko will be introduced to us properly later, but I must just say that he is an unbelievably inspiring young South African, and we thought, who better to have talking to our graduating students than a young South African who is unapologetically making bold and remarkable strides in the world. Our recognition to officials from the Department of Higher Education and Training and Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) in attendance; distinguished guests from Commerce, Industry and Sector Education and Training Authorities; friends and colleagues from sister colleges and neighbouring schools; the late Tsietsi Mashinini Family, represented by Mr Dichaba Mashinini; Deputy Principals, Ms, Matseba and Mr Schlemmer and Mr Mabathoana; Members of the college's Broad Management Team; President of the college's SRC, Mr Khathushelo Hasha and your entire office; members of the Campus Management Teams; members of the college's esteemed Platinum Club - these, ladies and gentlemen, are distinguished college educators whose aggregate results range from 80% -100%; colleagues and ladies and gentlemen - members of staff; beloved parents; our lovely graduands and students.
A hearty good morning and a resounding welcome to all of you! And thank you for braving this early winter cold-weather and for forsaking the warmth of your houses and all your important errands to grace our Diploma Ceremony, this morning.
As always, Programme Director and ladies and gentlemen, this occasion is being graced by several members the community, our immediate neighbours at the different campuses in Soweto, Roodepoort and Randburg. The invitation and the opening of our doors to these esteemed members of our surrounding communities and neighbours is a consolidation of our belief and premise that the college belongs to these people and their fellow-citizens and we are mere stewards or custodians acting on their behalf. I also take the honour of extending a special welcome to these members of the community - and neighbours to this occasion! In typical African style, our party is their party and our joy, their joy!
In our midst, also gracing this occasion, ladies and gentlemen are ten students, who were the Top Ten students at our six campuses and in different programme combinations in the class of 2010. These ten students are not among the students graduating today. We are showcasing them today because, as students in 2010, one, they did what all students who enroll with a college should do anyway: that is, committed to their studies, worked hard and diligently. And for doing that, which I repeat is what all of us parents want our children to do at school, or college, (for just doing that!), they got to be rewarded…(they got to be rewarded… wait for it…) with an all-expenses paid trip to the Netherlands, more than 9 000 kms away - thanks to our partner college in the Netherlands, Noorderpoort College! On this trip, the ten students were also joined by two educators, Ms Ndou and Ms Dlikili, who had themselves produced the best results college-wide in 2010! These lucky - no, no, not lucky - these self-driven students and staff members came back from Holland a week ago! So, they still have a bit of jet lag! We wanted the parents present here to see them before the jet lag is over! Secondly, we are showcasing these Top Ten students, because our partner college in the Netherlands has said they will once again sponsor a full trip for the ten best students of 2011 in terms of academic results, in early 2012! So, dear parents, if you still have a child at the college, you can join us in using this guaranteed trip to propel your child to work hard and earn himself or herself a trip overseas!
Programme Director, 2010 proved to be a significant year for us at the college, not just because of the 'feel-good-effect' generated by the FIFA World Cup for the country, nor because we took our top ten students to Holland - although all these were important! We've called 2010 our Tipping Point Year! We introduced a new Curriculum, the National Certificate (Vocational), or NCV, together with the other colleges in the country, 2007 - and the results in 2007 were poor country-wide and ours were no exception.
We began introducing improvement measures in 2008 and started seeing some improvements in both 2008 and 2009, but these improvements were quite modest and definitely below our expectations. We continued with these improvement measures, even calling them Breakthrough Improvement Strategies. And in 2010, (…in 2010!) it seemed as if everything we had been doing was starting to fall into place and the improvement in the results became quite significant and got all of us, especially the educators, excited, because, our work and efforts were starting to elicit the desired responses from the system. Our Roodepoort West, Dobsonville and George Tabor campuses registered the biggest improvements in the results, with Technisa Campus remaining our best performing campus in terms of results in 2010! So, we are generally a happy lot and an excited lot at this moment, though we understand, real happiness and satisfaction will come when we are able to pass every student who entrusts his or her education and dreams to us! We have called 2010 our Tipping Point Year and dedicated the improvements we have registered in 2010 to all the college's personnel and educators, notably to the Platinum Club members, which we want all our staff members to become members of, in due course, by working with their students to attain results that are in the 80 -100% range.
You will therefore, ladies and gentlemen, understand the feeling of excitement, pride and a bit of "Eureka!" which has engulfed the college and is also the theme of this occasion.
One word, Programme Director, which describes this occasion is the word, FEELING; a feeling of pride, a feeling of fulfilment, a feeling of vindication. Whether you are an educator who taught the students who rendered music at the start of the programme, or one who taught the students who are graduating this evening, or a parent who is here to witness your son or daughter climb to the stage to receive his or her Diploma or Certificate, you just cannot help but feel this feeling of pride, this feeling of fulfilment and vindication. You might even be an uncle or a representative of a company that funded the education of a student who has made good on your investment by reaching this end and you will, without doubt also feel this feeling
This feeling will, I believe, engulf and overwhelm everyone in attendance in the course of the proceedings of this morning's ceremony. The very students or graduands who are the stars of our show this morning can attest that they themselves are 'victims' to this same feeling of pride, excitement and vindication this morning!
Talking about this feeling, Programme Director, I am reminded of a light story that was told by then Chairman of the Proudly South African campaign, Mr Herbert Mkhize at a Proudly South Africa Awards Ceremony about 4 years ago. It is a light story about this word: FEELING, FEELING, FEELING. Our Safety in Society students, who are being trained to become police officers, better listen and listen carefully to the story!
He told a story that some retired leaders of the world came to a realization, around more or less the same time, that there was trouble in the world; that the world was overwhelmed with trouble. The story was told four years ago; before the recent recession, before the ongoing Egypt-Lybya-Yemeni-Syria uprisings and indeed before the the very recent killing of Osama bin Laden and these esteemed retired leaders of the world already felt the world was overwhelmed with trouble! Makes you wonder what they would say about today's world. (Remember, this is a light - not serious story!) Anyway, these esteemed retired leaders obviously felt bad and pondered at length about what they were going to do about the situation of a troubled world. Three of these former world leaders; Nelson Mandela, John Major and Bill Clinton decided to charter a jet (one of the very fast aeroplanes) to circle around the world, at very high altitude to get a sense of this troubled world from very far above the clouds.
The story says the three leaders circled and circled and circled around high above the clouds, mostly in silence and suddenly John Major was heard saying to the pilot, "Go down, go down a bit, I am feeling Buckingham Palace." When the pilot brought the jet a bit down, to their amazement, they realized they were flying over London. The pilot shot the aircraft up into the clouds again and the circling continued for some time and then Bill Clinton suddenly went into a trance too and shouted at the pilot to go down a bit because, as he put it, "I am feeling the Statue of Liberty!" When the aircraft went down, they were once again amazed to find that indeed they were flying over New York! After the aircraft was taken up, it continued circling around for a long, long time without any directive to the pilot coming from the other distinguished passenger. And the other two passengers were starting to worry. Then the legendary former President, Nelson Mandela, sensed the growing uneasiness of his fellow passengers. He then ordered the pilot to open his window, for he couldn't quite feel anything. The window was duly opened and the old iconic statesman held his hand out through the window for a long time and then pulled it back and said, "Close the window! We have been flying over Johannesburg, I know it, they have just taken my watch!" That, ladies and gentlemen, is the power of this thing called feeling. I assure you, you will not circle around during today's Ceremony without picking up and being overwhelmed by a feeling of pride, a feeling of excitement, a feeling of vindication when you see our students ascending the stage to receive their hard-won Diplomas and Certificates!
Welcome, all of you, ladies and gentlemen, to this Diploma Ceremony, which we have dubbed a festival of the feelings of pride, feelings of excitement, the feeling of AHA! A feeling of Eureka! A festival of the feeling of vindication when you see your child, your student, your brother, your sister, your niece, your cousin achieving a milestone like the one that our students are achieving this morning.
Congratulations to all our graduands, their parents and their educators for making us proud. To the college's personnel: thank you and congratulations on your success with these graduating students! May your magic not end with them!
Finally, ladies and gentlemen, Programme Director, in the course of this occasion, we will also be proudly presenting South West Gauteng College's prestigious 'Rainmaker Award', which is an annual award recognizing a person, or organization in the area of South West Gauteng, or in the entire country, or beyond, that has dedicated their life to the upliftment and betterment of the circumstances of others. The Award recognizes making a difference in the lives of others, that is, making it to rain in the life or lives of others! The deserving recipient, who is a real "rainmaker" - Motlalepula, u Zanemvula, will be announced and presented to us, later in the programme.
Welcome and thank you, ladies and gentlemen!
Dan Nkosi
Principal
To see other communications and speeches from the Principal of South West Gauteng College, please click on the titles below:
Welcome to South West Gauteng College - January 2011
The Shifting of the Sands - November 2010
Handing Over The Baton - June 2010
Summary: Ideal College Conference, Durban, 17-18 May 2010
News
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Open Posts at SWGC
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Several vacancies at SWGC are currently being advertised. For more information, please click onVacancies at SWGC in the menu under college information read more...
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Unveiling of the Dobsonville Campus Music Training Facility
2/29/2012
This Music Training Facility, together with other facilities at the Soweto Campuses of South West Gauteng College, was refurbished and equipped with the generous donation of over R3, 000 000 from Noorderpoortcollege... read more... -
Top Ten Students going to netherlands
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