St Boniface College

Last updated
St Boniface College
Location
St Boniface College
Kavango East

Namibia
Coordinates 17°54′25″S20°01′59″E / 17.907°S 20.033°E / -17.907; 20.033
Information
Denomination Roman Catholic
Established1995
PrincipalMary Phillis Yesudasan
Enrolment306

St Boniface College is a private secondary school in the Kavango East Region of Namibia, situated 30 kilometres (19 miles) east of the regional capital, Rundu. [1] It is a Roman Catholic Church boarding school. [1]

Contents

St Boniface was founded in 1995 and named in honour of Bonifatius Hausiku, the first Namibian Catholic bishop in Namibia; he later became an archbishop. [1] St Boniface College is the top performing school in Namibia.

As of 2016, the school had 306 students from grades eight to twelve. [2]

Academic success

In recent years, St Boniface has been the top-performing school in the country. [3] St Boniface students have made up the majority of the ten best performing grade 12 students in the country: nine of the top ten in 2010, five in 2011, seven in 2012, [1] and eight each in 2013, [4] 2014, [5] and 2018. [6]

The success of the school is attributed to its principal, Mary Phillis Yesudasan, who has been described as "very strict, combined with a military leadership style." [1] She emphasises commitment from both teachers and students. Teachers at St Boniface regularly work until 10:30pm. [4] Long hair and romantic relationships are banned among students, and mobile phones are forbidden for students and teachers alike. [1]

All the teachers in the school are from other countries, such as Kenya, Zimbabwe or India: according to Yesudasan, "no Namibian teacher has proven competent enough to comply with the stringent expectations she fosters." [7]

In order to maintain high academic standards, students who fail a grade are not allowed back to the school. [8]

Not all alumni of St Boniface College have had success at university, and the school has been criticised for not preparing students for the self-study necessary at tertiary level. [8]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Shinovene, Immanuel (18 January 2013). "St Boniface: The Story Behind the Success". The Namibian . Archived from the original on 21 February 2013.
  2. ↑ "Parents want more Kavango pupils at St Boniface". The Namibian . 20 September 2016. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  3. ↑ "State schools continue to finish last". The Namibian . 15 January 2015. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  4. 1 2 Immanuel, Shinovene (16 January 2014). "Quality of education slides". The Namibian . Archived from the original on 16 January 2014.
  5. ↑ Nakale, Albertina (15 January 2015). "Grade 12 results slightly better … St Boniface College again the shining example". New Era . Archived from the original on July 11, 2015.
  6. ↑ Ngutjinazo, Okeri (11 January 2019). "Jakob Marengo SS joins top 10". The Namibian .
  7. ↑ Kisting, Denver (28 January 2015). "St Boniface laments mediocrity". The Namibian . Retrieved 25 October 2016.
  8. 1 2 Haushona-Kavamba, Faith (23 January 2014). "Life's challenges after St. Boniface". The Observer. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.