Visionary, decisive leader and problem solver were some of the words used to heap praise on Khanyisa High School founder and first principal, who now serves as director of all Khanyisa institutions, Sebastian Matthew Vattakunnel.
The school hosted a Founder’s Day on May 12 to celebrate and honour Vattakunnel’s contributions to the institution.
He is credited with having started the school from scratch in 1994, after he was approached by the Roman Catholic Church to start a new Catholic school due to a high demand for admissions at Zingisa Comprehensive High School, another Catholic High School in Mthatha.
Vattakunel served as the Khanyisa High School principal since the school started operating in 1994, from a rented church building in Payne Location, until 2020.
His involvement in education goes back to 1982 at Mfundisweni Senior Secondary School in Flagstaff, where he taught for a year before being promoted to deputy principal from 1983 to 1989.
In 1989, Vattakunnel moved to Zingisa Comprehensive High School, where he also served as deputy principal until he left to start Khanyisa High School in 1994.
“In 1993 there were only three high schools in Mthatha, and a section of the Payne community approached the Roman Catholic Church for a new high school for the community. When we started there were no classrooms, no furniture, no learners, no textbooks but my faith in God,” Vattakunnel said during the Founder’s Day ceremony.
He said the school started with only four teachers, including himself, on February 18.
“My vision was to have a school where an ordinary child can get a good quality education without the need to go to the so-called Model C schools,” added Vattakunnel.
Besides successfully starting Khanyisa High School from nothing, Vattakunnel also spearheaded the building of Khanyisa Children’s Home, a home for vulnerable children.
The home currently accommodates 30 children ranging from infancy to primary school. The first vehicle for the home was a donation from him, and the institution currently has two vehicles for transporting children to school.
Together with the prefects of 2015 and 2016, Vattakunnel built a two-bedroomed house for a very deserving old lady from Payne Location who was so unlucky in life to the extent that at an age of over 70 she was renting a room with her daughter and four grandchildren.
“He is a man of vision; he has done so much for this community and is still striving to do more. He believes strongly in second chances. We thank the Lord for blessing us with him in our lives.”
“The school will be celebrating 30 years of existence by the end of 2023, so matric class of 2023 do your best in celebrating this milestone and give the vision-bearer the best birthday present of a 100 percent matric pass. We owe it to him,” said Khanyisa High School deputy principal for academics, Noluvuyo Lawana.
The school currently has an enrolment of 1 230 learners, 59 teaching staff and 29 non-teaching staff. It is producing a more that 80 percent matric pass and only a few times in its 29 years of existence achieved below an 80 percent matric pass rate.
Vattakunnel’s plans include building of pre-school to accommodate children from Khanyisa Children’s Home and those from nearby communities, having all classrooms fitted with a projector and interactive board and having Khanyisa High School’s assembly ground, up to the gate, properly paved.
