Africa-Press – South-Africa. An Eastern Cape woman who dropped out of school in 2005 after failing Grade 11 twice made a life-changing decision when she went back to school many years later to complete her schooling.
Blocking out all the subtle remarks and laughs from those around her, 39-year-old Nonceba Bonelwa has achieved a diploma pass in matric.
Bonelwa was 37 years old when she enrolled at Ekuphumleni High School to complete Grade 11, which she had failed twice. She decided to go back to school because she wanted to give her now 8-year-old daughter a better life.
“After I failed, I was so disappointed, and I thought to myself I was wasting my time. I felt like I was dumb because there was no other reason for me to fail a grade twice. That’s why I dropped out,” Bonelwa said.
She added that after dropping out, she hustled her way through countless jobs in the Eastern Cape and Gauteng.
Her first job was at a retail company where she spent a year. She also worked at a factory that produced receipts.
When she realised that she was not being paid well, she relocated to Gauteng, where she got into knitting, but her father’s death in 2016 led her back home.
Bonelwa, who never gave up, enrolled in a short hospitality course. She then found a job sewing curtains. But she said she was never happy, especially with her salary, as she realised that it was never enough to sustain her and her daughter.
“The treatment at work was not nice, especially because we worked [long hours] from Monday to Sunday, and the money was little. I never even got money for the overtime I worked.
“It was at that point I saw that schooling is necessary, and my family was also a huge influence because they are all educated, which made me wonder why I could not do it.”
With her mind set on finishing her schooling, she applied at two Eastern Cape schools but was rejected. She then met the principal of Ekuphumleni High School, who took a chance on her and offered her the opportunity to finish her schooling, she said.
But that was only the first obstacle.
Bonelwa said she wondered what people would think of her returning to school at her age, how she would be treated by her classmates and teachers, and how she would cope after such a long time away from school.
She tried to silence all these voices and worries to focus on herself because she knew the opportunity would change her life.
Bonelwa said:
She said she expected the teachers to be rude, but they were not. Instead, they carried out their duties with no judgement simply because she knew her place at school.
“I got into that school knowing I would be a [pupil] and do as I was told. I was not going to act up when I was reprimanded, and I was going to do what every other [pupil] was doing. And I did just that,” Bonelwa added.
Her subjects were Business Studies, Tourism, Hospitality, Mathematics Literacy along with language subjects.
Bonelwa said it was a difficult situation because she was rusty. She failed the first term but after reaching out to classmates and teachers, she was able to increase her grades and eventually passed Grade 11.
Going into matric, Bonelwa said she had to keep up the hard work.
She said she attended all the extra lessons offered at school, reached out to teachers and classmates and studied day and night with little rest.
When she received her matric results last week, Bonelwa said she was shocked that her marks were good enough to study towards a diploma at an institution of higher learning.
Reflecting on her journey, a proud Bonelwa said everything she went through was worth it.
She said she would not have made it without a strong support system, which included her family, classmates, teachers and the principal, who all believed she could make it, and her faith in God.
She is now looking at institutions to further her studies in education.
The principal hailed Bonelwa’s performance and said taking a risk on her was worth it because he could see the “desperation to make it in life” in her eyes.
“She is a hard worker and is goal orientated. What made her stand out from the rest was how she stuck through everything till the very end, ultimately resulting in success.”
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