Scholarships Pave the Way to Three Majors for Top Undergraduate

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Mr Jaedon Naidu has earned two scholarships: the Lawrence and Constance Robinson Scholarship, named after Lawrence Robinson who was the Chair of Council of the former University of Natal, and the Townley Williams Scholarship, awarded to the best student entering the final year of study in a first degree.

The Lawrence and Constance Robinson Scholarship is awarded to the best undergraduate student overall in the University. 

Naidu, Durban’s top matric achiever in 2021, joined UKZN in 2022 thanks to the strength of the Institution’s Data Science programme that combined Statistics and Computer Science, fields that Naidu hoped to study. He took advantage of the offerings of the School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science and added Mathematics modules to his studies to pursue three majors. 

The high achiever has utilised several techniques to maximise his productivity, saying hard work and consistency are two solutions to the challenge of effective time management, as well as a strategic and self-aware assessment of how much has been learnt and how much there is to plan for. 

Naidu uses study and productivity approaches, including the Pomodoro method, spaced repetition, active recall, and more to use his time efficiently and allow him time to pursue his hobbies of calisthenics and piano, and grow his YouTube channel which covers topics related to personal development and productivity. 

The actuarial science board exams he is studying for have added to Naidu’s workload and have required committed discipline to accommodate amongst his many obligations. Receiving these scholarships has been a boon, as they have helped him meet the costs of the additional modules he has added to his degree.

Being able to stay at home while focusing on his studies has been a bonus for Naidu, who has relied on the support of his parents and older brother, Aaron, who achieved numerous accolades of his own at UKZN. 

Naidu’s achievements include being the top student in 13 of the 14 modules he has taken over the past three semesters, coming second in the fourteenth module. He received awards for being the top student in first-year Mathematics, second-year Mathematics, and second-year Statistics, and one of the awards for first-year Computer Science. 

In addition to the two scholarships he now holds, Naidu previously received the Pius Langa and Prestige Scholarships as a top-performing entrant and undergraduate student. The computer science and statistics group projects he participated in during the past semester have resulted in the best project awards for his groups. 

Naidu’s plans include proceeding to his honours, master’s, and possibly doctoral studies in one of the fields in which he majored. He hopes to be able to pursue some postgraduate studies at a top 20 university abroad and is considering career opportunities in the competitive fields of quantitative trading or quantitative development. 

Naidu credits God for the talents he possesses and thanked his parents for all they do for him. He thanked the staff of Eden College Durban, where he undertook high school studies, and those at UKZN, particularly Professor Delia North who started the data science programme and personally recruited Naidu and his brother, Dr Cerene Rathilal, who encouraged Naidu to pursue a triple major, and Emeritus Professor Poobhalan Pillay, who ignited his career in Olympiad Mathematics from primary school that kickstarted his academic journey. 

Words: Christine Cuenod

Photograph: Sethu Dlamini