Earlier this week, the 2022 National Senior Certificate (NSC) examinations began. The NSC exams are the final school exams that school-going learners will write at high school.
The importance of the NSC examinations cannot be understated as it is the culmination of twelve years of schooling and the results achieved by learners will influence the next step in their education journey.
Over the next month, learners will not only have to navigate their examinations, but they will also have to navigate the dark, as power cuts persist.
Eskom has announced that stage two loadshedding will be implemented for the rest of this coming week during peak electricity usage hours. This means that learners may not have lights when they want to prepare for their exams.
Grade 12 learner Tyhirah Haradien explained that the rolling blackouts not only impacted her ability to study but also her motivation to prepare for the examination. This is because power cuts are taking place at night when it is dark and colder than during the day.
Haradien explained that loadshedding also impacted her ability to prepare for the preliminary grade 12 examinations earlier this year. This meant that her marks were affected, which could have a lasting impact on her post-school goals.
“It didn't give me room to study or do my best in the examinations so it affected my marks when I had to apply for varsity. So there were certain marks I had to use like my term one report in order to get accepted into varsity” explained Haradien.
Their parent, Lisa says they had to make alternative arrangements which would enable Tyhirah to study. This includes using portable LED lights and candles.
Haradien, who uses spectacles, adds that it is difficult to study with inadequate lighting as she cannot read words printed in small fonts.
“It makes me put a strain on my eyesight so reading such small fonts can be difficult which would then lead me into closing my books and rather sleeping till the lights go back on” explained the matric learner.
They hope that loadshedding will come to an end soon because if the power cuts persists, it may impact her ability to attend university and fulfil her dream of becoming a corporate lawyer.
