Parents urged to destigmatise failure

The South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG) is calling for failure to be normalised in order for children to understand that even if they don’t progress to the next grade, it’s not the end of the world.

SADAG says teens and children need to understand that failure is an inevitable process of life.

The group’s remarks come after two Grade 10 boys from separate schools in the Vhembe East District in Limpopo allegedly took their lives after failing the grade.

According to the Limpopo Department of Education, the two from Mphaphuli High and Thohoyandou Technical schools, respectively, failed to progress to grade 11.

The department has since urged parents and guardians to support their children should they fail to progress to the next grade.

SADAG’s Projects Manager for Education, Roshni Parbhoo-Seetha agrees, saying sharing stories of people who have succeeded despite having failed at some point of their lives should also be shared with children as a way to encourage them.

Parbhoo-Seetha says the societal standard of always glorifying success and how some cultures always priorities academic success, contribute to the pressures that teens and children face.

She says this leads to failure being stigmatised, which results in some people feeling ashamed when they fail, as they might associate success with their self-worth.

SADAG says while failure might not be popular – it offers one an opportunity to learn, and it helps build resilience.

The group says the narrative around failure needs to shift in order for teens and children to understand that it’s a steppingstone to success.

Most importantly, Parbhoo-Seetha highlights the need for children and teens to take up hobbies, and extra mural activities, so that they can shift associating their self-worth from academics.