“I feel like Covid-19 robbed us from our matric experience” – Eldorado Park learner, Micheala Fleming
Micheala Fleming former learner of Eldorado Park Secondary School shared her experience of being part of the Class of 2020 during a pandemic.
Micheala Fleming former learner of Eldorado Park Secondary School shared her experience of being part of theduring a pandemic.
Fleming explained that last year was very tough and stressful for her. “We were most of the time at home and had to rely on Whatsapp to get our work and if you didn’t have social media then it would have been a very difficult year. I feel like it was very expensive for us because we do not have WIFI and our parents were not all working during the lockdown so we struggled to get data. We were learning every single day and it’s difficult to work from your phone because sometimes we are tempted to check our other chats,” said Fleming.
The former learner indicated that their teachers created the group chats on Whatsapp and it was there where they got all the information that they needed.
Apart from English, Afrikaans, and Life Orientation, Fleming took Business Studies, Economics, Maths Literacy, and Tourism as her subject choices.
2020 came with many challenges and Fleming explained that it was challenging to be disciplined when you at home, in bed, and do not have a teacher forcing the work on you.
“I feel like last year showed me flames but it also taught me how to be independent,” she added.
[also read] – High hopes for matric results despite ‘difficult’ year
When it came to what her expectation for her matric year, the 19-year-old said that she thought that 2020 was going to be her year.
“I was already thinking about banquet and our matric jackets then Covid-19 hit and we never had any of that, no fun times, no exciting memories, all we had was class when we eventually went back to school. My matric year was not a nice experience. When we went back to school, we didn’t have break time, we had to eat in the classroom and get straight back to work. I feel like Covid-19 robbed us from our matric experience,” said Fleming.
According to the former learner, the Class of 2020 only did their first term tests, no second term test, and straight into their preliminary examinations (prelims) and only had ten days after the prelims to start with finals.
Fleming explained: “I didn’t have much of a planned-out study plan, I just focused on my subjects one at a time, I wrote a lot of notes, and I would rest during the day and start studying at night going into early hours of the morning. I had to study Sunday to Sunday and we even had to write two back-up papers.”
If it was up to Fleming to choose, she said that she would want to redo her matric year because she feels like she was going to do much better than what she did on her own. She added that she was happy with my prelim results but knows that she could have done better.
Fleming concluded the interview by saying: “Teachers are there to guide us and we did not have that kind of support, we had them on WhatsApp to ask questions but it’s not the same as being in person with them.” “My message for the Class of 2021 would be for them to strive to do better. Be driven by success and don’t let Covid-19 stand in your way and then at the end, you use it as an excuse for your results.”
Fleming has made plans with an au-pair agency to go aboard. She will soon be going to Philadelphia in the United States of America where she will live, work, and study for the next four years. Fleming would be studying to become a teacher.
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