Genius Boy’s Education at Risk, Mother Claims a Professor Caused It

Cursory: The distraught mother of a young maths prodigy has cried out about her son’s predicament after he lost two opportunities for a better education successively. She revealed how a professor resigned after giving them hope that she would help them give her son a better education.

After the resignation of former University of Cape Town vice-chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng, math prodigy Sibahle Zwane may have lost his chance to enroll in the UCT Online High School, his mother, Mbalenhle, told Sunday World this week.Mbali expressed her sadness at learning that the professor had quit his job at the college soon after giving them optimism that Sibahle would receive a better education when Curro Academy abandoned him.

“Professor Phakeng was on the lookout for Sibahle after seeing a viral video of him doing his mathematics, she was impressed and wanted him to join the UCT Online High School. This revived our hope for Sibahle’s better education, and when I heard she was not part of UCT [anymore], I really became sad,” said Mbalenhle.

“It sometimes feels like when someone tries to give him a chance, something bad happens. Like when he was at Curro and suddenly he was said to be autistic, then he had to leave the school.

“At times, I would think he feels like he does not fit anywhere, because he is a clever child but losing out on opportunities.”

The expectant mother stated that she was still awaiting word from Phakeng and would be grateful if there was anything else she could do. However, she said she would still understand if Phakeng’s hands were tied

“at this point as she might be having a lot on her hands now”.

According to Penuel Nkosi, who spoke on behalf of Phakeng, they met with Mbalenhle in 2022 but she was missing her son’s report for 2021 at the time. Because of this, Sibahle was unable to submit an application for admission to the institution.

However, they suggested that she apply using the June 2022 report, and she agreed, promising to update them after submitting her online application. Phakeng even offered to cover the application money.

“I followed up with Sibahle’s mom about the application on the 26th of July 2022 and she responded on the 31st indicating that she has filled in her details but needs to attach supporting documents,” said Nkosi.

He said they have also been waiting on her to respond on the matter so they could process the application fee.

“Prof Phakeng is still willing to pay for Sibahle’s UCT Online High School fees. However, considering that we are no longer at the university, it would be impossible for us to get involved in the application process, particularly given the tensions between her and the university.

“It would have been much easier last year, because I knew who to contact internally to assist if not Prof Phakeng directly.

“The way forward for now is for Mbali to apply at the UCT Online High School and inform me once she is done so I can process the payment of the application fee.”

Nkosi claimed that the professor was out of a job and had no idea when or from whom she would receive her next salary. This has put pressure on her to find ways to ensure the survival of her charity, Adopt-A-Learner.

This, he claimed, shows that Phakeng was in no way able to contribute to the cost of any private school other than UCT Online High School.

Source: SundayWorld

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