By: Lerato Moteane
Paying attention to your academics all throughout the year is a vital thing to do when you want to achieve commendable results. Working hard with dedication, be at school or work will often yield great results. Ayanda Mazibuko, a former learner at Thuto-Lesedi Secondary School in Vosoorus, shares a story about not giving up on herself and her academics.
Passing certain grades at school does not mean you will automatically pass all the other ones. Ayanda is a living proof of that as she passed all eleven grades and failed the last one. She did not see it coming and it was a shock to her. “When I went to check my results, nothing made sense to me. I watched my classmates crying tears of joy. I asked myself how could I pass eleven grades and fail the last one? And that was a question I didn’t have an answer to,” she said.
Her grandmother is the only person she holds dear to her heart. What she feared more than anything, was disappointing her. “When I told my granny about my results, she hugged me and made me promise that I won’t kill myself. The following week I was back at my school, I spoke to some of my teachers about coming back to re-do the subjects,” Ayanda said.
It was back to the drawing board for Ayanda, and this time around she had promised herself to make it. With the help of her teachers, asking questions where she does not understand and doing her work, made it easier for her to make it through. She says that “to cut the long story short, I worked hard and passed in 2016.”
It is still the first term of school for students and Ayanda shares some words of encouragement by saying “If you failed, it’s not the end of the world. Give it another try, work hard, stay persistent, along the way it is going to be hard but it’s all going to be worth it.”
She add, “It wasn’t a nice feeling watching all my friends getting student cards and entering varsity while I was still doing matric, but I had to understand that it wasn’t my season.” Ayanda urges people to keep on and never give up. “Believe that you are not a failure,” she says.