The MEC for Education, Ms Dikeledi Magadzi, has urged pupils from Vele Secondary School outside Mutale to take education seriously because education is the key to success.

“Education is one of the things that break the cycle of poverty that continues to condemn millions of our people to a life without hope.”

She addressed pupils in Gogogo village outside Mutale last week when she officially opened the R44 million Vele School. The school was established in 1985, while the new school was built in 2007 and completed in 2010. It has 16 classrooms, three computer laboratories and a resource centre.

Magadzi said she was impressed by the improvement of matric results at the school, which changed from a 38% pass in 2009 to 84% in 2012. “We believe the increase in better matric results is partly linked to the improvements in the new school buildings. The construction of the school has altered the school from a rural learning facility to a pioneering educational and community centre,” said Magadzi.

Magadzi congratulated the school on winning an award for sustainable architecture, an honour it shared with a school in the North West Province.