A KIMBERLEY parent is outraged at the Northern Cape Department of Education after her daughter did not receive her National Senior Certificate (NSC) in time to secure a place at university.

According to the parent, her daughter enrolled to rewrite some of her Grade 12 subjects to improve her chances of being accepted into university.

She said her child wrote her final exams at Vuyolwethu Secondary School in Galeshewe but was told that her results were not at the school when the final results were released.

“My child wanted to improve her marks, so she decided to redo her Grade 12. The entire process proceeded smoothly, but the problems started when the results were released. She went to Vuyolwethu to collect her results, but was told they were at Perseverance College of Teaching. At Perseverance, she was told that her results were not ready and that they would call her. She waited, but the call never came.

“She went back to Perseverance to find out what was causing the delay, only to be told once again that her results were not ready. She returned home without any clear explanation. My daughter had applied to further her studies at university, intending to start her first year this year. She contacted the university and explained that she was still awaiting her results, but she was informed that they could not reserve a place for her if she did not send the results on time.

“After going to Perseverance every week this month, she was repeatedly told that her results were ‘on the system’ but had not yet been captured and compiled correctly. As she continued following up, she discovered that several other pupils were experiencing the same issue,” the mother said.

She added that the delay had jeopardised her daughter’s chances of securing a university place, along with those of other pupils.

“My daughter informed the university she had applied to that her results were delayed, but they told her they could not keep a place for her as they had no way of knowing what her marks were. As a result, she lost her opportunity to start university this year because she could not register without her results.

“Another pupil facing the same problem had applied to Sol Plaatje University (SPU), but the deadline for new student applications had passed, forcing them to make alternative plans. Our children’s futures are now in limbo because some people failed to do their jobs properly.”

She explained that although the pupils finally received their statements of results on Wednesday afternoon, January 29, it was too late.

“The results were officially released on January 15, yet our children only received theirs at the end of the month. No explanation was given for the delay, and we are simply expected to accept it and move on. There are so many things that were planned and now they cannot happen because of this.

“This process should never have been so difficult, but it caused my child a great deal of stress and anxiety. She is now depressed because her plans were jeopardised. We had made arrangements for when she started university, and it is deeply unfair that those plans have now been delayed due to incompetence.

“She must now come up with alternative plans for this year, all because certain individuals failed to do their jobs,” she said angrily.

Northern Cape Department of Education spokesperson Geoffrey van der Merwe said they were investigating the matter.

“The Northern Cape Department of Education can confirm that the learners have been issued with their statement of results. However, we are looking into the matter and are engaging with their school to establish where the problem occurred,” said Van der Merwe.

“Arrangements are made annually with all 144 high schools in the Province to avail all Grade 12 candidates with their statement of results. This is an isolated incident, which we will investigate to establish the cause of the problem. We do apologise for the inconvenience this might have caused.”