Petition to Extend Grade 12 Accounting Examination from 2 to 3 Hours BEFORE FINAL EXAMINATIONS FOR 2026

To the Department of Basic Education, to every parent, teacher and South African who believes in us , please hear us.

We are the Grade 12 Accounting learners, the Matric Class of 2026. We are not lazy. We are not looking for an easy way out. We are exhausted, desperate, and fighting for our future with all the strength we have left.

We chose this subject with our whole hearts. We chose the early mornings at 4am when the house was still asleep. We chose to give up weekends, holidays, time with friends and family, to sit alone with balance sheets, reconciliations, and financial statements until our eyes burned. We did it because we dare to dream — to become Chartered Accountants, auditors, business leaders, the ones who will lift our families and build this country.

But that dream is slipping through our fingers ; not because we did not study hard enough, but because of time.

Imagine knowing every answer, yet watching 20 to 30 marks stay blank because the clock has beaten you. Imagine being a distinction learner in every other subject, yet walking out of your Accounting exam hall in tears, hands shaking, heart broken, knowing you have lost your bursary, your exemption, your university dream — not from lack of knowledge, but from lack of time.

This is our reality. In every school, in every province, the same pain repeats in Paper 1 and Paper 2. Our teachers watch us break down and cannot help us. Our markers see brilliant work left unfinished.

Accounting is not about memorizing a textbook. It is about reading pages of complex information, analyzing every detail, and doing calculations where accuracy is everything and one mistake can destroy an entire question. How can 150 marks of such demanding work ever be fairly tested in just 2 hours? It cannot. It is impossible. And it is unjust.

This time limit is not just affecting a subject. It is crushing our APS scores, stealing our bursaries, breaking our mental health, and silencing the future accountants South Africa so desperately needs.

So today, we are not just writing a petition. We are crying out for help.

We humbly request you, Department of Basic Education, and beg you with all our hope: Please, extend our Accounting exam from 2 hours to 3 hours BEFORE the 2026 finals begin. 

Please give us a fair chance to show what we truly know. Give us time to breathe, to think, to finish what we started so early in the morning so many years ago.

This is not us asking for lower standards. This is us begging for justice. For dignity. For a fair opportunity to prove that our sacrifices were not in vain.

We are the children who chose hard work. We are the future. Please, do not let the clock decide our future for us.

WE WILL NEVER FORGET THAT YOU HEARD US.