Francistown Senior Secondary School awards brightest minds
Francistown Senior Secondary School (FSS) celebrated its academic excellence in a spectacular Prize Giving ceremony held at the school’s student hall last Friday.
The meticulously planned and flawlessly executed event was held under the theme: Striving for Academic Excellence in the Digital Era.
The Prize giving ceremony follows an impressive showing in the 2022 BGCSE results in which the school ranked fifth out of 34 Senior Secondary schools, under the capable leadership of School Head, Fanyana Ntaise.
Boasting three of the country’s 14 top achievers, and claiming the city’s bragging rights, the school has never looked back and has set their sights in being one of the best schools in the country. Judging by the academic excellence rewarded last Friday, there’s no doubt that this institution founded in 1978 is on the right track.
Speaking at the ceremony Francistown’s Chief Education Officer, Boy Alex Olekantse encouraged students to strive for excellence. He said students should never be defined by their current’s life situations, but should always focus on being the best and building for a better future.
“Your parents might be struggling now, or doing manual labour. With your focus and dedication you can be a light for your family,” said Olekantse.
He further encouraged those who did not receive awards to never lose hope.
“Use that as motivation. Have hope that next year you’ll be on top, and those on top today, never sit on your laurels because they’re coming for you,” said the CEO.
“Some of your colleagues who did well last year, are now in Maruapula, and some of the best schools in the country and across the world,” he said.
Guest Speaker, The Voice Editor In Chief, and an FSS Alumnus-class of 1990, Emang Mutapati, said the school has always had some of the best educators, even before the years of digital technology.
“Even today FSS still has the best teachers,” said Mutapati.
With her keynote address based on digital economy and e-learning Mutapati cautioned students from letting their brains go idle.
“The brain is the laziest organ, be careful of what you feed it. The brain prefers familiarity, it prefers patterns and is often on autopilot, so it’s very important to always think about what you’re thinking about,” she said.
Mutapati said academic excellence is more than just achieving report marks, but maximum development of intellectual capabilities. The mission is to produce students who’re competitive in the global environment,” she said.
She commended teachers for their efforts in ensuring students achieve highest academic standards.
“Behind a successful student, is a teacher who cares. It doesn’t just happen,” Mutapati said.
The guest speaker reminded students that through the help of technology which has opened the entire world markets, they can get skills from a click of a computer.
“You can teach yourself how to sing, how to play a guitar through Youtube videos,” She said.
She further said with the use of technology students today can now enjoy learning, because they are better exposed to more interactive and entertaining ways to learn.
“Today technical skills are at the core of jobs that in demand in the market,” said Mutapati.
She however cautioned that if left unchecked, technology can also be an addiction which then becomes counterproductive.
“Forex for example becomes an addiction, just like gambling. Be careful don’t let technology become a curse,” warned Mutapati.
The school’s most excelling students were finally awarded certificates and rewarded with cash prizes for their efforts, and while the likes of Gogonte Seitebatso who walked away with several awards, including Best in English, had the spotlight shining brightly on them, the day truly belonged to two boys. Laone Pheto and Jethro Mabaya.
Pheto walked away with the Best Form Five student with 42 points. The brainy young man also scooped two awards for individual subjects. The toast of the day was however Mabaya, who pulled the rug off his senior’s feet, accumulating 47 points to walk away with the best Form Four student award, and the biggest crown of being the best performing FSS student in 2023.
Award winners walked away with P300 vouchers per subject, while overall winners walked home with P500 vouchers.
