“They are the ones who pushed me to be here, and also my parents; I cannot say that I struggled that much because I had that support system —people who told me I could do this. Even the teachers believed in me more than I believed in myself,” he said.
He said in chemistry, especially in physical sciences and life sciences, there were practicals that they need to do at a laboratory, but they could only watch videos of scientists on YouTube.
“I don’t have first-hand experience of doing any science practical. I just watch a video and rely on that to answer the examination questions. We just have classrooms where they can teach, that’ all,” he said.
Fanelesibongile Ngema, 18, from Maphumulo village in KwaZulu-Natal, credited her family, especially her parents who are teachers, for her success.
She wrote her matric examination at Vukile High School and she said her father transported her to school daily, especially when she had to attend evening classes.
“My mother gave me data which helped me to access YouTube and all the information I needed for my studies,” she said. Ngema plans to study medicine at the University of Cape Town.
“My aunt is a mathematics teacher. My father — not necessarily an accounting teacher but he did accounting — also assisted me,” she said.
Rayyan Ebrahim, 19, from Pinelands High School in the Western Cape, said it took a lot of hard work and commitment to obtain what he achieved.
“I had to face certain challenges like Covid-19 and load-shedding [during his years of learning in secondary school] and just change the way I was approaching my studies. I have to learn a lot of things about myself,” he said.
He said everywhere he went while he was in grade 12, he was met with encouraging words from his peers, parents, community members and teachers.
“They all wanted to see me succeed and that is just so motivating because in matric you really need that constant motivation,” he said.