….Meet the graduate who started school at age 12, dropped out at Grade IV, became a street kid,
….After four years on the street, went back to class at Sebenta National Institute
…..he was recently conferred with a Diploma in Civil Engineering
BY MBONGENI NDLELA
MBABANE – ‘It always seems impossible until it is done.’
The above adage is often attributed to Nelson Mandela, who used it to inspire people to overcome adversity and pursue their dreams.
A Liswati graduate has also referred to this adage when describing his emotional but inspirational journey to getting a qualification.
Having graduated last week with a Diploma in Civil Engineering from Eswatini College of Technology (ECOT), Mancoba Dludlu has shared how he started school at the age of 12. He said he recalled that he went to class barefooted on the first day.
“I know that diploma is just nothing, but to me Bafethu, it’s a great achievement,” he shared on Facebook.
Dludlu stated that he made history in grade one when he received 100% aggregate during the third term report.
He disclosed that he did not spend much time in Grade Two because he got promoted to Grade Three in no time.
However, when he finished Grade Four, he discovered that he owed school fees from Grade One to Grade Four.
“I was advised to go home and return when I had all the money. There was no such thing as Free Primary Education (FPE) at the time,” he said.
Due to the unavailability of school fees, Dludlu disclosed that poverty forced him to the streets where he spent four harsh years as a sundowner.
“In 2013, I realized that the three stars were not going to sustain me indefinitely, and that education was my only alternative. I left the street and started a new chapter.
The way I value education I was ready to go back to Grade five as old as I was,” he said.
He explained that the decision to go back to class was however met with serious challenges. This is because many headteachers rejected to admit him because of his age and appearance.
“To them, I resembled a gangster who will teach their well-behaved pupils to smoke marijuana.
But to me, all of that was/is not a rejection but a redirection to my true path” HE SAID.
It was after all the rejection that he then went to Sebenta National Institute (SNI).
Sebenta is a non-profit making organization (public enterprise) that provides a variety of services to enable people to achieve personal.
“I made history by becoming the first person to obtain a Merit Class under Sebenta, without doing Grade 5 and 6. The rest, as they say, is history. It is possible black child. Look now my HOD is saying I’m now ‘worth the Diploma in Civil Engineering’. This is only the beginning of my path to a Ph.D.
Dludlu explained that after completing his primary education at SNI he did his high school education at Swazi National High where he completed and in 2018 enrolled at Eswatini College of Technology (ECOT) under the Faculty of Civil and Building.
He was last week among the hundreds of students who graduated at ECOT with him conferred with a Diploma in Civil Engineering.
Eswatini Positive News wishes Dludlu greater achievement as he pursues his dreams.
