Students are not ok!

Behind the assignments, deadlines and degrees, young people are trying to keep it together. This is the side of student life that does not appear in graduation photographs.

It is the student sitting in a lecture while worrying about food. The one staring at an assignment at midnight because they are afraid of failing. The one comparing their life to everyone else’s on social media. The one who wants to make their parents proud but is quietly questioning whether they chose the right career.

For many young people in, getting an education is no longer simply about passing examinations. It is about securing a future in an economy where opportunities can feel uncertain.

Two students shared what life is really like behind the academic results and graduation photographs.

*Nokukhanya shared that academic pressure and parental expectations are difficult to separate.

“Sometimes I feel like I cannot fail. My parents are making sacrifices for me to be here, so when I struggle, I feel guilty. You start thinking that failing means you have disappointed everyone.”

The pressure is understandable. Eswatini had 21 726 students enrolled in higher education during the 2024/25 academic year, according to the Eswatini Higher Education Council, meaning thousands of young people and their families are investing in tertiary education as a pathway to a better future. But getting the qualification is only part of the anxiety.

She also highlighted that career uncertainty is constantly in the background.

“You work so hard because you believe that when you graduate, things will get better. But sometimes you wonder, ‘what if I graduate and there is still no job?’”

Statistic

The 2025 Labour Force Survey shows that Eswatini’s youth unemployment rate remained high, although it improved from 27.1 per cent in 2023 to 26.8 per cent in 2025 under the ILO’s standard measure.  For students, however, the statistic has a human face.

 “It makes you think about whether your Degree is enough”, she continued. Then there is money.

“You can be sitting in a lecture, but your mind is somewhere else. You are thinking about transport, food, data or rent. You are trying to study while calculating how you are going to survive the week.

“Then there is social media. You see someone you went to school with graduating, another person travelling to further their studies and someone else starting a business. You start asking yourself what you are doing wrong, am I falling behind or what.’’

*Nkosingphile shared about something harder to admit, the loneliness and  pressure to appear fine. “You don’t always want people to know that you are struggling. Sometimes you just want someone to ask if you are okay without immediately asking about your results.”

For some young people, the social environment can add another layer of pressure. Eswatini’s latest national adolescent health survey found that 33.2 per cent of learners aged 13 to 17 reported being bullied at school, while 17.3 per cent reported experiencing cyberbullying. Although these figures relate to younger learners, they underline a wider reality that young people do not leave social pressures behind when they enter tertiary education. Relationships, family problems, financial worries, academic expectations and fear of failure can all exist alongside a student’s ambition.

Yet students are not asking for standards to be lowered. They are asking to be understood.

Parents can ask: “How are you coping?” as well as “Did you pass?” Lecturers can recognise when a student may need additional support. Institutions can continue strengthening counselling and student support services. And students need to know that asking for help does not make them weak.

Our country is a young country. Nearly three quarters of its population is below the age of 35. How we educate and support this generation will therefore shape much more than individual careers.

Maybe the conversation we need is not about whether students are strong enough, it is about whether the systems and people around them are giving them enough support to succeed.  And sometimes, before asking ‘when are you graduating?, we should ask, ‘Are you okay?’

*Names have been changed to protect the identities of students.