With Matric results being released on 23 February, hundreds of thousands of students are in the process of figuring out their future during one of the most difficult times in human history. After 10 months of disrupted education many young people are facing yet another year of uncertainty and stress, while still being expected to have their futures mapped out. All of this in a country that already has one of the biggest education and economic inequality gaps in the world.

Our first Critical Dialogue for 2021 aims to look at the long-term effects of COVID-19 on the matric class of 2020 and to explore the options that young people may have as they enter this new phase of their life.