Post matric, there are many options

THE TIME has arrived: yesterday the IEB matric results were released and today it is the turn of the candidates who wrote the National Senior Certificate (NSC) examination to get theirs.

Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga announced the outcome of the examinations yesterday, and had by her side the top achievers in the country, with individual results available online and at schools this morning.

As happens each year, we can celebrate excellence with some of the top matriculants in both sets of exams having completed their schooling locally.

Although these super-achievers are the young men and women who stand out at this time, with close on 630 000 full-time NSC candidates and a further 122 000 having completed matric part time, there are thousands of others who are happy today, happy to have passed or got the marks they needed to continue with tertiary education.

While we analyse the results overall, the national and provincial pass rates, the top achievers and those who achieved despite incredible odds, we also acknowledge that matric results day can be disappointing for some.

While the celebrations rage on, there are those who feel a failure because, for whatever reason, they did not achieve what they had hoped for, and those who know their immediate dreams are dashed.

To you today, we say, hope is not lost: there are options for you, such as a re-mark, a mid-year rewrite or even a repeat of the year.

In the wise words of Prof Kobus Maree of Pretoria University, the word “fail” does not belong in modern society.

He also reminds us that going to university is not the only option after matric, that there are different routes to success.

We enjoy his story of the student who wanted to study medicine but did not have maths or science as matric subjects, so registered to do these subjects at a post-school training institution before enrolling for a general degree.

After achieving excellent outcomes he gained admission to study medicine, and is now in his fourth year, showing just what is possible.