FACED with different challenges when he arrived at the university – most of them were caused by the fact that he came from a rural area and did not know much about the process by which things are done in universities – encouraged him to research ways to end that problem.
Thus began the research journey of Ms. Thembeka Mpanza, who recently graduated with a Master of Arts in Applied Theater degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, with her research called Investigation on Black Rural Students Mental Health Wellness.
In an interview withIt’s the weekend about this, Ms. Mpanza who is from Nhlungwane, Lundi, said that it was the situations she faced directly that pushed her to research this situation when she did her Master’s.
“When I came to university more than five years ago, I had the problem of not being able to communicate well with my colleagues, and it was difficult to understand what was being taught at that time because when I was studying in rural schools, we were taught many things only in Zulu,” said Ms. Mpanza.
Continuing, he said that one thing he noticed at the university is that students who come from homes like him and who come from needy families had the problem of feeling unwelcome and seeing themselves lagging behind their colleagues due to lack of money and learning resources.
“I found out that all of that is a lot of mental torture for the students and it also causes that their learning is often not going in the right way compared to those who grew up in cities and townships because they come already knowing a lot.
“That’s why in my research I’m looking for strategies that can help to fix this situation, and I’m looking for the role that needs to be played by the leadership of universities to help students like me so that their studies are not difficult,” he added.
He said that his desire is to use presentations similar to his research to try to improve the learning environment in different universities and higher education institutions which will help all students feel welcome and not stressed.