Matric Year In Mayhem
YOU South Africa|13 August 2020
After five years of high school, what an anti-climax! How can the class of 2020 make it through these final crucial months?
Jane Surtees
Matric Year In Mayhem

Bleak. Cheated. All work, no play – just a few of the more polite thoughts some of this year’s matrics have expressed.

And really, who can blame them? They’ve finally made it to the top of their school food chain and now look.

All those cool traditions, leadership roles, special privileges – gone in a stroke of a lockdown pen. Not to mention the fun – the matric dance, the post-finals parties, hanging out with friends.

Now it’s school (when it’s open), home, study, repeat.

“At first, missing out on the last of everything at school was an emotional roller-coaster,” says Megan Steel, who’s in matric at Fish Hoek High School in Cape Town. “Now it’s got to the point where I just want the year to be over. All the changes and going back and forth have demotivated me.”

Understandably so, but it’s not over yet. In fact, it’s crunch time – although dates haven’t been finalised by the department of education, some schools are planning for mock exams in September in preparation for final exams at the end of the year.

It’s not easy for anybody. Even when school doors are open officially, they often have to close.

“Some schools have had to close three or four times because of Covid-19 cases, so there’s a lot of uncertainty,” says David de Korte, national president of the South African Principals’ Association and headmaster of Camps Bay High School.

Then there’s the kids-will-be-kids problem. The result of a recent clandestine party of 16 Camps Bay pupils was 30 students out of school for two weeks.

This story is from the 13 August 2020 edition of YOU South Africa.

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This story is from the 13 August 2020 edition of YOU South Africa.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.

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