What the pupils have to say

MANY past matriculants will remember the feeling of waiting for that newspaper to see whether or not their names appeared in it. Some travelled to city centres where the newspaper printing presses churned out thousands of copies on the night. They felt it all: excitement, trepidation, nervousness, anxiety.

And those of us who felt the relief and happiness of seeing our names listed can never know how the other pupils who didn’t make it felt.

The Saturday Star spoke to pupils from the matric class of 2021 to find out how they felt about the Department of Basic Education’s announcement this week not to publish matric results.

Kayla Moodley

Personally, I feel as though it was a smart and responsible decision. Speaking solely from a statistical point of view, it is already public knowledge that the matrics of 2021 have achieved lower grades than even the 2020 matrics. No one wants to be publicly humiliated if they have not received the highest of marks. I do understand that it is almost a rite of passage for matrics to all congregate at a gas station, for example, and pick up a newspaper and collectively experience that feeling of relief of being finally done with high school. But we have to think of the impact it will have if, even if it’s just one learner, what is being published is not all that flattering.

Family members all over will know what you’ve achieved possibly before even you know. It protects the child’s privacy in this matter as it is their decision whether to share those results or not. It would have a more positive impact on mental health. So I feel the decision taken is the right one.

Kayla Labuschagne

I’m happy about the results not being made public as I believe it is

“IT’S the end of an era.”

That was the sentiment from Livingstone Pillay, Independent Group Subscriptions Manager who has overseen the circulation of the “matric results” newspapers for many years.

The government announced this week it was banning publication of matric results in the media.

While there were many arguments made for and against publishing results, it has also brought to an abrupt halt the traditional rush by matric pupils to go out and buy a newspaper to see their results and share that excitement with family and friends at the local garage or corner store.

Pillay, who started with the group some 40 years ago, said there was a time when hopeful pupils would gather in crowds outside the offices from as early as 6pm on the day before results were released.

“We used to position vendors only something that should be shared amongst you and your family members without having others ridicule your results.

Anonymous matric pupil

I’m personally not fazed if it’s released publicly or not. However, I believe that the matric results should be presented privately as the results belong solely to the learner and do not need to be shown to everyone. The private display of results might also result in a decrease in the suicide rates of matric learners. The matriculants won’t feel as much pressure compared to previous matrics knowing that their results won’t be made public and for everyone to see.

Lesego Molobela

I genuinely believe that the results around the building to sell newspapers.

“The results would arrive at the newspaper offices and work would start getting all the names, numbers and results onto the pages, and of course they had to be correct.

“You would walk into the machine room, the presses running, it would give me goosebumps. not being made public indicates some sort of secrecy from the government, as if there is a confrontation we are trying to avoid or something, such as the truth, we are trying to hide. It has always been a norm or tradition for results to be made public. In this instance, it means that learners won’t really know how their peers performed, but only themselves. Stars across the country that performed really well won’t get the recognition and praise that they deserve.

Nikhil Parsotum

I’m not entirely happy about the decision because I’ve felt that waking up in the morning or staying up at midnight only to ravage through the newspaper to be shocked by your results is an important part of the matric experience and to feel it being

“When all the presses were going, the building would almost rumble and shake and you could smell the ink. It was amazing to see.

“Then we’d go to the loading docks where all the trucks would be loading newspapers and rolling out,” he said.

Pillay said that the biggest sale was more than 550 000 copies for a taken away is a bit frustrating. The raw emotion in response to whatever is on that piece of paper may make or break you in that moment in time. It’s what your school life has built up to. The idea that they are backing our privacy is valid in some aspects, yet also seems perplexing because only I know my student number … it doesn’t make sense to me. There are mixed emotions on the topic, and while I understand why some are happy about this, I don’t see why we should protect a number – that only we, the students know about that will be attached to how we have performed – we’re never going to use again in our lives.

Tarin Goslin

The results being announced so late have made me anxious and the fact that it is so close to the start of university matric results paper one year.

“The kids used to come to the gates and party outside. We would have to be here all night,” he said.

When the 6am embargo was put in place by the Department of Education, the newspaper offices had to tighten security, with police sealing off entrances and exits to the property.

Hopeful pupils would still stand outside, as close as they could get to the newspaper offices.

The first trucks would leave at about 4pm for the long-haul deliveries in places like Zululand, Newcastle and down the South Coast.

“The trucks would roll out and all the newspapers were sealed. When they got to their destination, someone responsible had to cut the is scary. However, I am excited to receive my results. I feel the decision to stop printing the results in newspapers is better for privacy reasons, but it also makes receiving results a little more confusing and complicated. My friends feel the same way I do as some have moved away from Johannesburg, which makes it even more complicated to get their results.

Jason Johnson

I feel mostly anxious about seeing and getting my results as well as my personal performance in my exams. I don’t feel too strongly for or against the matric results not being published in the media because I think that there are other places we can still get it. I would say that the general sentiment is confusion as to why the decision was made this way and so close to the announcement of the matric results.

Luke Green-thompson

We have a website where we can access our results. I can imagine that it isn’t pleasant for many people. It only pit young students against one another and makes it a really toxic environment for people. You would see people’s marks and names and who passed and who didn’t. It's a very personal thing and the disappointment of failing can be very intense. I think not posting the names would be a good decision.

Aidan Heywood

Honestly, I am not too affected by the decision not to publish the matric results in the paper because the IEB has set up a site where students can input their exam number and date of birth to retrieve their results. However, I do despise this decision as some students don’t have access to the privileges that I do and the newspaper might be the only means of retrieving results for a while before they have access to the physical results. I would not want to wait that extra time to know whether or not I have passed as it causes quite a bit of stress. seal. They were instructed no papers could be sold before 6am.

“The kids would be waiting at garages and corner stores. When they got their results, there would be screaming and lots of throwing newspapers into the air,” said Pillay.

As with most staff at Independent, there were also lots of calls from friends and not-so-close acquaintances, wanting to get their results.

“I’ve even had people phone me and say, my dad got matric results from you, can you help me with my kid’s results,” said Pillay, adding his son did get a touch of special treatment.

“On the night his matric results were due, I took him through to the machine room while the presses were running and took one of the first papers and gave it to him,” said Pillay.

“There was always a lot of hype around the matric results edition. This is surely an end of an era, it’s just very, very sad that it’s been stopped this year,” he said.