Johnathan Paoli with Lerato Mbhiza
South Africa’s Best Teacher of the Year 2023 Gugu Qwabe’s mantra is ‘the best resource for any school is a motivated educator’.
The English teacher and departmental head of languages at Mandla Mthethwa School of Excellence in Umkhanyakude in KwaZulu Natal should know. She walks the talk.
Qwabe is passionate about educating and grooming future leaders, so much so that she has authored “Applying Ubuntu Principles to Think, Learn and Succeed”, which is expected to come out in six weeks.
The book focuses on practical applications of African values to corporate aims, merging progressive thinking with sustainability models. Qwabe supports using indigenous languages as instruction tools: “It has long been due for Africans to enjoy the fruits of their existence.
“I believe that it is time as a country that we deserve everything others have,” she says while stressing the importance of uBuntu in developing a robust moral code and sense of social responsibility.
“One important value is exhibiting resilience in the process, believing in what you’re doing, and meeting with policymakers,” she says.
Qwabe was named the best South African Teacher at the 23rd National Teacher Awards by Deputy President Paul Mashatile at a ceremony in Pretoria last week.
The National Teacher Awards (NTA) were launched in 2000 and have become one of how the Department of Basic Education (DBE) acknowledges the extraordinary efforts made by excellent teachers, often in harsh conditions.
Qwabe, who’s been teaching for 15 years, expressed her gratitude at being awarded the prize and an appreciation for her seniors for recognising her vision of the humanising transformation of education for learners, especially for marginalised learners within the rural context.
Raised by a single mother who was also a teacher, Qwabe, who has three other siblings, says when she was 12 years old, her mother’s resourcefulness in the face of struggles and their low-income household inspired her.
“My mother did not want me to teach since she was a teacher. She faced so many struggles, and being as innovative and different as I am in a system of conformity, she experienced a lot of resistance,” Qwabe says in an exclusive interview with Inside Education.
After completing her basic education, interrupted by a transfer from a former Model C school to a local public school because of financial constraints, she graduated with a Degree in Psychology and English from UKZN. Then, she transferred to the School of Education, graduating in 2007.
Her teaching career started in one of the poorest schools in the Jozini, uMhlathuze area. She says she taught Life Sciences and English without any formal teaching qualifications simply because of her ‘good English’ in her Grade 12 results.
One of the primary reasons which motivated her to teach in Jozini was that both learners and teachers were making great strides despite the school being heavily under-resourced with poor provision for sanitation.
However, their resilience in facing challenges strengthened Qwabe’s resolve that only passionate educators should be recruited into teaching.
She took the great lessons and inspiration and, in 2009, moved to another school – Amandla Awethu until 2017; she acquired a Postgraduate Certificate in Education before being recruited by a circuit manager who recognised her potential to join the newly formed Mandla Mthethwa School of Excellence (MMSE) in 2018.
The school has its roots in an initiative dating back to 2001 when members of the private sector and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education collaborated to improve the quality of the lives of the people of Ndumo, one of the poorest and under-resourced communities of KwaZulu-Natal.
MMSE Headmaster Dr B.H Mthabela has described the school’s mission as instilling in learners the values such as respect for self and others, level-headedness, self-control and self-discipline, compassion, and embracing others and the environment.
Mthabela said the school was designed primarily to offer the best possible education to learners of Umkhanyakude in particular and those of other parts of KZN and other provinces in general, and Qwabe was a natural fit in the equation at the school that has secured more than 200 distinctions in its existence.
Qwabe’s clarion call is for more teachers who are emotionally, morally and ideologically invested in ensuring equal and quality education for all children.
“We need more good people in our society; we need more people to stand up for the right things. Our learners need to grow up in healthy spaces”.
Qwabe, as an award winner, has been automatically entered into the African Union Continental Teachers Award of 2023/2024.
Mashatile, in his keynote address, acknowledged that teaching is a labour of love and passion and highlighted the importance of ensuring that all learners in the country have effective and adequate access to education.
“Acknowledging that teaching is a labour of love and passion, as Government, we are committed to reinforcing teacher support and prioritising the professional growth of the women and men who are key drivers of basic education,” Mashatile said.
INSIDE EDUCATION
