With students heading back for the first day of school on Wednesday, many institutions have set the objective of building on the successes of the previous year.

After missing out on a 100% pass rate by one learner for two successive years, Strand-based Madrasatur Rajaa High School finally achieved the feat in 2015, and the school now hopes to continue that trend with its class of 2016.

One of the key contributing factors to the school’s success, at least according to deputy principal, Fuad Behardien, is Madrasatur Rajaa’s commitment to keeping its classrooms small, which afford teachers more time to personally engage with each pupil.

“Every year we are visited by department officials who ask why we perform so well, and one of the major factors is the small number of students in our classes. We had 22 last year and will have 10 more this year, but the numbers in the classes are most definitely a contributing factor,” he explains.

Another crucial aspect of the school’s pass rate is that many students left at grade 7 to pursue the memorisation of the Holy Quran, only returning to secular studies at grade 10.

“What I personally find is that even if they are doing maths or physics, they usually function at a higher level than those who were in the system the entire time. I think this is down to memory training through the hafith process,” says Behardien.

2016 will see the school exceed the 200 learner mark for the first time in its history. With the year already off to a good start, Behardien says that beyond matching the 100% pass rate, the school will also pursue a bettering of its 81% bachelor passes.

“This year we want to make that 100% as well. That is what our aim for this year is.”

The school’s top performer for 2015 was Ayesha Karaan, daughter of MJC mufti, Ml. Taha Karaan, who achieved 8 distinctions. In all, the school achieve 15 distinctions amongst its matric class of 2015. VOC (Mubeen Banderker)