St Boniface College in capable new hands

Mariselle StofbergWith the results of the grade 12 NSSCO and NSSCH exams, St Boniface College in the Kavango East Region has yet again dominated the top ten positions in the country. St Boniface College was named the top-performing private school in both the 2020 NSSCO and NSSCH exams, with nine of the ten top performers for grade 12 ordinary level and three on higher level that where learners from the school.Dr Rosline Sebastian, the acting principal of the school, believes that St Boniface College has developed a culture of education in Namibia focusing mainly on the learners and their ability to explore themselves to the maximum of their capacities. “Mary Phyllis Yesudasan has been instrumental in bringing this institution to its heights by her decades of committed services. Bidding farewell to her, I have just taken up the responsibilities as the principal of the school. We will continue the good practices we already have here to ensure the preparedness of the students for exams. Moreover, we want also to equip them integrally to face and succeed the world around them at large,” Sebastian said. She believes that the success of the school is extraordinary since it continues to dominate the success storyline. The school has invested in committed teachers who are experienced and experts of their subjects. “We maintain discipline on the campus in such a way that nothing short of excellence is tolerated. We insist that we should use the maximum amount of time available to the learners for their studies and reducing all other sideline activities,” Sebastian adds. “Our day starts at 06:45 and it goes up to 22:00. There are lectures and much more study sections assisted by the teachers. Free class hours of the students are used as library hours so that they spend that time also in studies. There is an atmosphere of study we create here and I think that culture itself inspire most of the students to be high-achievers,” she says.Motivating staff and students“Any educational institution should work on the foundation of discipline, both from the students and the staff members. Fortunately, Boniface College has grown in this respect through the past decades. Where there is a goal we hope to pursue, we will put our best into it. Students and teachers alike feel challenged, inspired and all the more fully committed to the task ahead of them,” Sebastian adds. The school starts the day with prayer, which they see as an integral part of each day. “There is a word of God placed into their hearts at the beginning of their day itself. Students who are good at studies are also good at different extra-curricular activities. We do have our art and sports forums where they find enhancement in such areas of lives. Students develop their writing skills, singing abilities, dancing expertise, etc. through various occasions available to them. I think there are spiritual, physical, intellectual, emotional and cultural exposures for them to grow integrally,” she says. The school has also had its share of challenges last year. “We have been going through some fresh and new challenges because of the Covid 19 pandemic. One can only imagine the depth and extent of it since in different ways all institutions and all human beings are going through its pangs. In the previous year, we could engage classes mostly through the online medium. Still, we could do better in the exams. It was a struggle for the students and all the more for the teachers.“We cannot achieve anything great without much suffering and endurance placed into those situations. Similarly, we were also going through some difficulties since we had to take steps to eliminate some students due to disciplinary reasons. Such tensions and challenges are always with us. We always want good for the students, families, and the country at large,” Sebastian adds. Sebastian encourages this year’s grade 11 and 12 learners to remain focused and determined. “This academic year is going to be much more difficult for the learners since they have only six months to prepare for the final exams. I advise them to be focused and fully committed to their studies. Moreover, from this year on Namibia has only one stream of the exam. That means we do not have lower and higher grades for the final exam. Rather we have only the higher. It will be a new challenge and stress factor for the students. Are we ready to face it? I guess we will try our best to do our best. Let us wait and see how we will be able to prepare our students with our extremely dedicated workforce.”The face of 2021Sebastian is the new acting principal at the school but is by no means new to St Boniface College. She has been a teacher at the school for more than five years and is involved with the education of the students in many ways. “I do not have any plan to radically change the academic culture we have already at work, because it has been effective and successful all these years. I do gratefully acknowledge Ms Das for giving us such a legacy, brought to this country by spending most of her life here. Now it is not easy to get into her shoes. I am readying myself and getting gradually acquainted with fulfilling the responsibilities of being the principal and I will move slowly with the structure and programme we have now and will see what changes need to be made in course of time,” she says. Sebastian will primarily focus on the new AS-level programme of studies introduced this year and hopes to make sure all the students, regardless of their differences, feel at home on campus. “I want to make sure they are all healthy and safe. I will have a special force of teachers and staff entrusted to make sure proper attention to identify Covid related issues and to provide proper care for the learners and I will make sure the campus is a clean, healthy, environment friendly and solacing the stay and life of the students,” she says.

St Boniface College in capable new hands

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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St Boniface College in capable new hands

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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