With 14 sets of twins and a set of triplets, teachers at this primary school must keep their wits about them.
Hoofweg Primary School in Wesbank has a legacy of having twins and triplets, says Allystair Sauer.
He says in one previous year they had no fewer than 15 sets of twins.
Yesterday, the 28 twins and triplets assembled in the school hall, where the palie said: “We feel very proud and honoured to have them.
“One year we had 15 sets of twins, and the year after that 12, and now we have 14 plus the triplets.”
SISTERS: Sheronique and Veronique Booysen. PHOTO: JACK LESTRADE.
Sauer says to make things easy on the kids, they’ve decided not to separate them, as this can cause anxiety.
“We are looking well after them. We always try and keep them in the same classroom,” he says.
“We had an incident where the one brother ‘waited’ for the other one when he failed Grade 6.
“So we understand that they need one another.
IDENTICAL: Zizikazi and Zamozizi Kaboko. PHOTO: JACK LESTRADE.
“It’s amazing that most of the parents enrolled their children here at this school.”
There are currently two sets of twins in Grade R, three in Grade 4, two in Grade 5, two in Grade 2 and one set in Grade 1.
The triplets are in Grade 4.
To keep teachers from getting confused, the children wear name tags at the beginning of the year.
Only three sets of twins are identical, and they usually wear their name tags until teachers can tell them apart, says Sauer.
Most of the twins are a pigeon pair or the one is taller than the other.
TRIPLETS: Inako, Inathi and Inga Nonqwana. PHOTO: JACK LESTRADE.
Zerigma Fens, 10, who is in Grade 4 with her brother, Zerenco, says it was hard to come to school alone when her brother fell ill for a few days.
“It is nice to have a friend and I love my brother very much,” the little girl says.
“We were born at the same time and on the same day in 2008.
“We were born at 10am. I miss him when he isn’t here.”
Nine-year-old triplets Inga, Inako and Inathi Nongwana say they also have two older sisters aged 10 and 11.
FRIENDS: Zerigma and Zerenco. PHOTO: JACK LESTRADE.
Twins Sheronique and Veronique Solomons, aged 11, are equally shy and quiet.
They also have two older siblings, aged 13 and 17.
They say despite having a strong bond, they fight just like other siblings: “We are identical twins and we do have two brothers who are older than us. We do fight and argue a lot.”
genevieve.serra@inl.co.za