“I dreamt of going to university to study pharmacy.“
AS SOUTH Africa celebrates the highest matric pass rate in the nation's history, a KwaZulu-Natal woman is claiming she was sacrificed to ensure that.
*Lihle Sishi, an 18-year-old from Durban was in matric in 2024 and she said she struggled academically at the beginning of the school year due to the death of a loved one which also led to mental illness.
She tells the Daily News: "I was excited to be in matric. I dreamt of going to university to study pharmacy, but it feels like that was snatched away from me.“
She said she struggled in the second term as well. Sishi claims she was approached by one of her teachers for a “talk”.
She adds: "At first, I thought she cared about me and that she perhaps wanted to help me get back on track with my grades. But what she said instead broke me into a million more pieces."
Sishi claimed that the teacher told her not to register for the final exams because she would just “fail anyway”.
The matriculant said she refused but that she was ultimately forced into it, adding: "My school has a good pass rate.
“I was told that by continuing to write, I would rob the school of its prestige, respectability and awards for the teachers.
"Before I had difficulty with my grades, I was an average student. I passed but I was not exceptional. All this was brought up to subject me into a guilt-trip into agreeing with her. I was made to feel useless as a learner and a failure as a human being," she continued.
Sishi said that she was told that she could apply for supplementary exams instead. She said that she was determined to prove the unnamed teacher wrong and secure a good future.
Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube announced that the 2024 National Senior Certificate (NSC) matric results showed an impressive pass rate of 87.3%.
*Names were changed to protect their identity.