As we all know the final examinations for matriculants are around the corner. This year’s matric class will kick start their final examination period on Tuesday, 25 October 2022.
Not only was the class of 2022 severely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic that hit when they were in Grade 10, but now there’s a bundle of nerves around load shedding too.
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Matrics are now faced with the prospects of load shedding after following countless disruptions to their school careers dating back to March 2020 when South African president Cyril Ramaphosa announced the country’s first lockdown to contain the spread of COVID-19.
According to BusinessTech, the Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga has visited learners in a provincial prayer service in the Free State as part of the last push to get students mentally and emotionally prepared for their final examinations.
The minister said that the current matric class has gone through a storm over the last three years – “it made them the most disadvantaged cohort of learners”.
Furthermore, the impact of disrupted education following the COVID-19 outbreak was devastating, with learners between 75% and a full school year behind where they should be, according to a 2021 report by the humanitarian organisation (UNICEF).
Rotational attendance, sporadic school closures and days off for specific grades resulted in school children losing 54% of learning time.
In addition, students have had to deal with damaged property and school closures following unrest which resulted in more than 140 schools being vandalized in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
Also read: Eskom’s load shedding chaos helps thieves- it’s now a crime risk too
And with two weeks to go before exams begin, students are faced with South Africa’s worst-ever electricity crisis, which has included up to eight hours of load shedding over the past several months, and a record number of days for power cuts ever.
The candidates will sit for the examinations at 6 885 exam centres across the country, reports BusinessTech.
“As a sector, we will have to swim with the tide,” said Motshekga on Sunday. “I can’t say that a sector we are immune.” However, the minister said that the department does communicate with the energy department.
“When we write exams we really do communicate a lot with the Department of energy to say during this period, if possible we could just suspend power cuts, but I can’t guarantee that we will be able to fully do away with power cuts when there are power cuts in the country. So we will have to navigate our way like everybody else navigates their way.”
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Eskom warns that another 18 months of loadshedding are imminent
Picture: Cape {town} Etc gallery