Humble man who started top Mthatha school steps down

After 26 years of producing outstanding matric results and shaping the futures of thousands of children, popular Khanyisa High School founding principal Sebastian Vattakunnel, 71,  has decided to call it a day.

When Vattakunnel was initially approached by the Roman Catholic Church to start the school in 1994, the man fondly referred to as “VK” in education circles was a little sceptical.

At the time, he had been working as the vice-principal of Zingisa Comprehensive School, which was also founded by the church, and despite being given a R250,000 budget, he still had reservations.

But three decades later, Khanyisa High has not only become one of the top schools in Mthatha, but also the  popular choice for many young minds hungry for a chance to get a quality education.

Vattakunnel told the Dispatch that despite having made his decision to leave the school, he would not be entirely lost to the education system as he was planning to build another school in Ncambedlana near the residential suburb of Northcrest.

“It’s [starting Khanyisa] one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life,” he said.

“I don’t regret it one bit, even though at first I fought against it. At the time, I had a vision of building a good school but I had no clue it would work out the way it did.”

He said the school was established at the insistence of rural communities in Mthatha who asked the church to build a school nearer to their homes.

This was because it was costly having to send their children to Zingisa, which was too far away.

Getting a site on which to build Khanyisa proved harder than Vattakunnel had anticipated as residents of Payne village declined to provide him with land.

He then went to the neighbouring KwaLindile village which gave him a portion of a hill near the N2 behind the Ultra City Shell garage.

“I was able to build eight classrooms,” he said.

Over the years the school has managed to increase its yearly intake of pupils to more than 1,300.

Vattakunnel said he did not select people based on merit but used a simple policy of “first come first served” when admitting pupils.

He recalled how a pupil who came from a rural school and did not have a good command of English had been rejected by other top schools in Mthatha. However,  Vattakunnel welcomed him.

When the pupil completed his matric, he was among the top achievers and went on to become one of the first pupils from a disadvantaged background to study actuary sciences at university.

He said he believed there was a lot of quality in pupils who came from rural areas — children he described as “uncut diamonds”. It was the job of teachers to polish them and mould them into stars.

“It is not their fault that they come from those areas.”

During its first year, Khanyisa scored 98% in its matric results, with only two pupils failing out of 58.

Between 2010 and 2015, the school consistently scored above 90% in its matric results, but experienced a drop to just above 79% in 2018.

Last year, that figure rose to 80.2%.

Vattakunnel put this down to the fact that their policy was not to admit top-performing pupils from other schools.

The Dispatch reported earlier this year that Vattakunnel had been given the Benemerit medal by Pope Francis for his dedication and service.

The teacher attributed his success to hard work and strong discipline.

Eastern Cape education spokesperson Loyiso Pulumani described Vattakunnel as an outstanding educationist and leader.

He said the department was grateful for his contribution, not only in transforming Khanyiso into one of the best schools in the province, but for his contribution to education as a whole.

“The department appreciates his work and service,” he said.

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