Covid-19, stress and social pressures have an impact on school learners.
The Matric Class of 2021 has had one of the most challenging journeys in completing their studies. After facing the Covid-19 pandemic for two years straight, they were able to come out the other side with many of the smiling but at what cost. Wits University senior lecturer and educational psychologist Dr Simangele Mayisela has pointed out various factors that impacted school learners which included the pandemic, social and academic pressure, balance your social and academic needs and more. “At the beginning of this pandemic, its end was unpredictable which made even short term planning a challenge, affecting the ability to set goals and focus.
“To abate its transmission and its spread, human socialisation was drastically and instantly stopped during the Level 5 lockdown.”
This resulted in very little class attendance but those in the middle class were able to achieve their learning goals due to online learning, those without suffered even more.
According to Dr Mayisela, due to the fact that matric learners are adolescents, their psychological and social development thrives from socialising and mingling with others of their age. This was significantly minimised as they did not physically attend school for large portions of the last two years. “The covid-19 regulations denied them access to their friends, which for some it may have been experienced as detention. Though the use of social media platforms became the release for the tension experienced from the physical and social interaction restrain, the isolation and the fear of death associated with socialising lead to anxiety and depression.”
Additionally, and even more devastating, was the loss of life learners experience by their families, friends and potentially even teachers.
Apart from the pandemic, matric on its own is extremely stressful stated Dr Mayisela. “It is usually accompanied by fear of not meeting the requirement for admission to a higher education programme of choice, and not meeting the social expectations.” There is also the need to maintain a balance between focusing on studying and negotiating social relations outside of family bonds. Resisting negative influence such as being lured to drug use is also a challenge for most of the urban youth along with home conditions, such as single-parent homes, with low income or no income, domestic responsibilities competing with school work, are lived realities for some matriculants in South Africa.
