MOSSEL BAY - If you did not pass matric, do not despair. There is still hope. Your future can still be bright.
This is according to well-known Mossel Bay educationist Claire Iris du Plessis.
She has certainly earned her stripes, having worked as a teacher and official for the Education Department for decades.
She is simply known, affectionately, as Miss Claire by many in Mossel Bay.
Du Plessis says: "To get to matric is a major achievement. Many of those with whom you started school are not with you any longer.
"So, if you have made it here, you have come a long way: 12 years of schooling and now you have not met the final requirements to go into tertiary education or find a job where the requirement is a matric.
"Don't lose hope and feel you have lost the battle.
"Yes, you didn't make it, but don't despair. Failure is often one's best opportunity for learning and changing direction or course."
Du Plessis notes: "Failing matric is certainly not what you had signed up for, hoped for or expected but, if it happens, the most meaningful response is to accept the reality and decide on the best action under the circumstances.
Temporary setback
"It is only a temporary setback and is definitely not the end of the world, so don't despair. There are numerous other options.
"South Africa's National Qualification Framework has many other avenues for obtaining qualifications or quantifying experience.
"If you have reached matric and you didn't pass, you can enquire about the GETC (General Education and Training Certificate) and you can access a Vocational or Technical education stream at a TVET college or any other Technical institution.
"You can then get an N3 qualification from the Technical college."
Du Plessis emphasises: "There are careers which do not require Grade 12 to enrol in the courses. Just today, someone working in real estate addressed us as district Education Department staff and explained that to enter this market you don't need a matric."
Du Plessis is currently the deputy chief education specialist - property planner for Education's Eden and Central Karoo district.
Previously she was the curriculum adviser for English Home and First Additional Languages for the district.
She trained and then qualified as a language educator and school and vocational guidance counsellor in 1983 and went on to study honours in Afrikaans-Nederlands and completed a third degree in Education in 1996.
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