Cape Town - Ulrich le Roux from Paarl Boys’ High School received a heroes welcome back to his school on Friday after he had clinched the overall top National Senior Certificate (NSC) learner for 2021.
Le Roux returned from Johannesburg this morning after attending the national announcement of NSC results held by Minister of Basic Education Angie Motshekga on Thursday evening.
Le Roux said that he was very surprised and delighted when he found out the news of being a top learner in country but never expected to take the number one position.
“I'm extremely happy, obviously,” he grinned.
“I must say, it was quite unexpected, a massive surprise to even get the email to be able to go to Johannesburg, and an even bigger surprise to actually win the number one spot.”
His matric year was very busy as he had to juggle not only seven subjects, but he also had an eighth.
“My seven subjects were Afrikaans home language, English language, Mathematics, Accounting, Physical Science, I.T. and life orientation. And I had Advanced Maths as a subject last year. My favourite subject is definitely Mathematics.”
Le Roux won’t have much time to bask in the glory of his achievements as he is planning to attend university, which will be starting shortly.
“In a little bit over a week, I'm going to Stellenbosch University, and I'm going to study Actuarial Science there.”
The top matric learner in the country did have some words of wisdom that he was willing to share for the matric class of 2022, and he encouraged them to find a balance between a personal life and study life.
“For the Grade 12 learners of 2022, Covid-19 is still going to massively impact their studies and everything. I'd tell them they must enjoy all the last moments with their friends and at school, but at the same time, still work hard on academics so that they can be happy and look back with no regrets on what they achieved.”
