Frazzled matrics face last-minute choices

After a mammoth wait for results, matriculants are now speedily preparing to go to university or take time out following what some have called the “worst year ever” to graduate from high school.

With exam results of both National Senior Certificate (NSC) and the Independent Examinations Board (IEB) coming out far later than previous years because of COVID-19 hurdles, school leavers are having to make a last-minute scramble to make plans for 2021.

It has been a week or two of crack decisions and a crazy run around for some, with life changing decisions about whether to work, study, or take a gap year. All of these decisions take months to plan normally, but only days or minutes in the time of coronavirus.

The much-anticipated gap year has taken many twists and turns as countries vacillate between opening and shutting international borders for travel and tourism.

These matriculants faced anxiety over their matric results to begin with, compounded by further stress about whether to register for university or not. Still unsure about whether their overseas gap year would materialise, they had to decide whether or not to register for university in case travelling became impossible.

“My son has faced his first real adult dilemma,” said Johannesburg social worker Stephanie Urdang, “to register in time for university or wait for Israel to eventually open its borders so that he can go on Limmud.

“He was accepted into the two university courses he applied for and needed to register for his degree. He only had a few days to decide whether to register or not. It was very stressful. It was a hard decision to make, but he is hopeful he made the right one.” His university registration process has now passed, so that makes it official – he won’t be studying this year. In the meantime, he waits.”

Stacey Swartzberg’s son is enrolled at the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom (UK), and was going to Israel before the start of the UK academic year.

“All the delays have made his Israel plans unfeasible, so he has changed plans completely and is going to the University of Cape Town (UCT), where he will be with a lot of his friends. You can plan all you like, but COVID-19 has taught us that plans often come to naught.

“This week, there is more clarity, but now there is a rush to settle in Cape Town, find an apartment, rail a car, and sign a lease. It’s all very last minute,” said Swartzberg.

One Johannesburg mother who wished to remain anonymous is worried about getting her son to Cape Town on time before the start of the academic year at UCT.

“My son wasn’t sure he was going to get enough points for his desired course at UCT. He had to wait to hear from the university, which he did only a few days ago and fortunately, he did get into the course of choice. Now he is trying to find flat mates at the last minute and a place to live that’s affordable. He has only had a short time to do all this as orientation begins this week at UCT, and lectures begin in two weeks. These are all serious adult issues.”

Many matriculants received provisional acceptances from their universities of choice following applications made last year, but they weren’t guaranteed acceptance until the release of their matric results. It added to the stress of waiting.

One Johannesburg mother said her son, who obtained six distinctions, was anxious about being accepted into engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits). While he got more than enough points to get into his desired course, he didn’t receive provisional acceptance on his Grade 11 marks which were very good, she said.

“The long wait for matric results was torturous,” she told the SA Jewish Report this week.

“He was ecstatic when he did so well, but anxious about whether he did well enough. It was a huge relief for him when Wits made him a firm offer the day after the matric results came out, but the stress leading up to this was unforgettable. There are few places for students doing engineering and so many applications so you are never secure in your choice until the last minute.”

One King David student who also wishes to remain anonymous found the wait for matric results unbearable.

“I was very stressed. I wanted to study for a BCom at the University of Johannesburg and because I did maths literacy, I needed to outperform on my other subjects to acquire enough points to get in.

“Fortunately, I did very well, and I got in easily, but it was very stressful,” he told the SA Jewish Report. “Unlike many of my friends, I didn’t have the option of a gap year or to study in another city, so I really needed to work hard and make it happen. I was worried that I would need a plan B.”

Going into the big wide world is challenging and daunting at the best of times, but 2021 is on another level.

“A lot of kids are still debating whether to take a gap year after the horrendous year they had last year, just to have some time off. Kids are frazzled,” Urdang says. “I believe every kid who passed matric in 2020 is a hero. Some children thrived, and some slipped through the cracks. Many didn’t cope emotionally and academically.

“Besides learning on their own and pivoting to be online, they were surrounded by the stress of parents being retrenched, the loss of family members, people around them getting sick and not being able to visit them, huge financial worries, and of course, things like crime and youth unemployment have all taken their toll. They are heroes in my eyes.”

In years to come, writing matric in 2020 will be worn as a badge of honour.

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