While the class of 2021 did not have to contend with the same disruptions (lockdowns) to their academic year, their challenges, if anything, were even greater than that of their 2020 counterparts. Although familiarity with the pandemic conditions, probably lessened the overall fear and anxiety presented by the virus, it could never erase them and as new waves of the pandemic surfaced, the anxiety levels naturally increased. It is, however, the fact that the class of 2021 first had to catch up their incomplete Grade 11 curriculum before they were able to start on their Grade 12 work that brought about new forms of anxiety and stress, unfamiliar to any matric class that have gone before. And just to make matters worse, the municipal elections called for 1 November 2021, prompted the start of the NSC examination to be brought forward to 27 October 2021.

 

Guest on the line: Basil Manuel –executive director at NAPTOSA