Pupils in Grade 12 at the New Era College in Malamulele have been told to go to university next year and come back with degrees and not with Aids.

Addressing the college´s matric dance at the Mphephu resort last Friday evening, University of Venda lecturer Geoff Mapaya, the guest speaker, told the pupils that they were on the verge of a new life. He said if they passed their exams, they were expected to start new lives at universities where they would be free from parents and teachers and they were free to do what they liked with their lives. “This is a make-or-break period,” he said.

He said some students who go to university use their newfound freedom to start a new life of drugs and sex binges, something that saw them come back with AIDS, instead of coming back with degrees.

He urged them to choose friends who would become good study mates. “This will help you come back with degrees,” he said.

There were ripples of laughter when he said: “Do not come back with a baby either, please.”

The director of the college, Basani Marlene Mugwambani, said former school mates are no longer “following the straight and narrow and you follow them at your own peril.” She also said that a large number of learners were still hanging around Malamulele with nothing to do, years after passing their Grade 12 examinations.

The award for the best-dressed male went to Shaun Mhlava. Choice Sambo was the best-dressed female, Vonani Chauke and Shaun Mhlava were the best-dressed couple, the best pupil in 2009 was Actovius Baloyi and Mr Godfrey Moyo was the best teacher.