Durban - A YEAR has passed since a Parlock teenager completed high school, but her dream of studying biochemistry hangs in the balance.
The 19-year-old, who obtained an A-aggregate in the 2018 National Senior Certificate examination, is still waiting for her matric remark results and senior certificate.
Without these, the teenager, who declined to be named, cannot enrol at a tertiary institution.
Her mother, Saadia Sayed-Ally, said her daughter studied at Crescent Girls High School.
In February, she submitted six examinations papers - English, Afrikaans, mathematics, physics, life science, and life orientation - for remarking, hoping she would score higher.
“At the end of March, when the results and the certificate were meant to be issued, we were informed by the Department of Education (in KZN) that both were unavailable,” said Sayed-Ally.
“Since then, we have been given the run-around. A year has been lost, and I fear my daughter will still not be able to study in 2020 without these documents.”
Sayed-Ally added her daughter felt demotivated.
Her friends also sent their papers for remarking but their results and certificates, she said, were issued in March and they enrolled in colleges and universities.
“It is becoming frustrating. This is my daughter’s future that is being compromised. It is unfair that our children work hard to achieve great results, but is this how they are repaid?”
She said her daughter applied to various universities, including the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the University of Witwatersrand and the University of Johannesburg with her Grade 11 results.
“And in January, she submitted her initial Grade 12 final term report, in which she achieved an A-aggregate. She was provisionally accepted to the University of Witwatersrand and the University of Johannesburg.
“But before these universities opened, she had to submit her matric certificate, which she could not do.”
The teen said she was frustrated and disappointed.
“I had to put my dream to go to university on hold. I feel the education department has failed me.”
The Department of Education had not responded at the time of publication.