There is no doubt that there is a lot of anxiety amongst the scores of matriculants impatiently waiting to receive their final examination results this week. Nizole Kwaza (18) from Kraaifontein is among the almost a million matrics who wrote their National Senior Certificate examinations in 2022.
Like the rest of her 900 000 peers, waiting has been at the root of the Cape Town teen’s current anxious state. Kwaza tells Health For Mzansi that she is feeling anxious about how the results will determine her future.
“When I try to envision how this year will play out, I feel mixed emotions,” says Kwaza who attended the Wallacedene Secondary School in Cape Town. “Achieving good grades is crucial if you want to gain admission to a university and be considered for a bursary.”
‘Thinking ahead gives me chills’
Somila Meveni (17), a learner at Louwville High School from Vredenburg on the West Coast, says that she cannot wait to know if she has made it or not.
“Since we started with our finals, I have been merely surviving. Now I can’t wait to start living my life,” she says. “If I did indeed succeed, I would continue my education. Not once have I considered taking a gap year.”
On Monday, the education quality assurance body, Umalusi, confirmed that the matric results will be released on Thursday, with pupils able to receive their marks at schools on Friday.
Shutting down the noise
Meanwhile, in Tsomo in the Eastern Cape, Anga Mafenuka says that he took a break from social media to avoid “stressors”.
“Honestly, the 20th of January seems like an eternity away, and I’m getting more and more impatient by the day,” says the 16-year-old from Zwelivumile Senior Secondary School.
“After studying so hard all year and especially for the finals, it would hurt and [feel] like I have wasted my time if I failed.”
Mafenuka plans to attend either the University of Johannesburg or the Cape Peninsula University of Technology in the Western Cape, where he has been provisionally selected to study computer engineering.
“If I don’t get accepted to institutions, I will work harder and earn better grades regardless of how long the application process takes from the department of education.”
Health For Mzansi reader Anga Mafenuka
Support begins at home
According to Sandile Radebe, an educational psychologist and student counsellor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, family and friends are the most common sources of stress for matric learners.
He explains that supporting a matriculant does not begin when they wait for their results, but rather when they begin classes as grade 12 learners in January.
Radebe explains that so much guidance is required to mentally prepare them, such as guiding them on limiting their access to social media and other electronic devices so that they will focus exactly on what is their priority.
“Asking and finding out from their teachers how you can help as a parent provides support and it plays a vital role for both pupils and teachers.”
Educational psychologist Sandile Radebe
Pressure cooker situation
He says that when a child is the first in his or her family to matriculate, there is sometimes added pressure to succeed academically so that the child can enrol in and thrive in a university.
“Some people commit suicide because they are under pressure from people close to them. Although not always intended negatively, it may become too much to bear for the one expected to perform.”
When anxiety grips you or you realise that you need therapy, you can book a session at a government institution for free.
Radebe believes that people should not wait until they are drowning to seek therapy. There are also private institutions for those who can afford them. It is the right thing to do to seek therapy to better understand yourself and the world around you.
Keep your chin up
Akhona Daweti, a teacher from Kwamfundo High School in Khayelitsha, says families should stop expecting too much from their students.
“If only you can find out what makes you fail without beating yourself up. That can be an identification of your weaknesses in which you can turn them around to be strengths.”
While Nolubabalo Rani, a teacher from Khayelitsha, says that you should emotionally prepare for the exams by understanding that you are doing your best and that you can only control what you can.
Failure is not the end of the road
“The anxiety shouldn’t be about failing or passing matric. It should be about what else can you do if you don’t.”
She believes that failure is not the end of the world and that there are numerous options, like rewriting your matric or going to college and understanding that TVET colleges are not for dumping unsuccessful people but for empowering them to obtain a skill.
Rani suggests having a support system in place so that students do not feel alone in their decision to give up.
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