Teachers rewarded for commitment
It was his desire to make a difference in the lives of others that made Kesval Govender spend close to four decades as a schoolteacher.
Govender received the lifetime achievement award at the 20th Eastern Cape Teaching Awards ceremony at the Osner Hotel in East London on Thursday night.
“My passion for teaching and learning and working with students is something I love doing. It’s what makes me get up early in the morning and go to school,” he said.
Govender has been a teacher and principal at Woolhope Secondary School in Nelson Mandela Bay for 39 years.
“This is the crowning glory of my career. To be the best teacher, one has to be at school early, prepare for lessons and show learners that you know what you are teaching.”
He advised that teachers needed to “get on” with the fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).
Five hundred schools and 34,000 teachers across the Eastern Cape have been provided with laptops loaded with elearning programmes and ecourses to improve the quality of learning, so that pupils are better prepared for the 4IR.
Said Govender: “Handing out the laptops has been a great start. Next is to train the teachers, because many are still afraid of working with these gadgets. Learners are connected online; they won’t listen to teachers with using just chalk and a board.”
The father of three said his family was his pillar of strength.
The passion for using technology in the classroom saw Cape Recife High School (Port Elizabeth) teacher Anmari van den Berg and Queens College’s (Komani) Geneva Ndlovu named as the best teachers in the Excellence in Technology-Enhanced Teaching and Learning categories.
Van den Berg said: “It is wonderful to be recognised for what we do in our schools. Teaching is our calling and my passion is technology. I try to empower children to use technology to stimulate them for the 4IR.”
Ndlovu said teachers were key to opening the doors for pupils in terms of 4IR.
The best primary schoolteacher in the province, Sibongile Zinganto, of Siviwe Buso Primary in Mthatha, said teachers in disadvantaged communities still faced challenges.
“Teachers go through a lot of struggles to make sure we impart everything that is important to pupils. Our school is in an informal settlement, but I try my best to make sure that the children who are there get the best education,” Zingato said.
Education MEC Fundile Gade said the awards were made to recognise the sterling work teachers continued to do in the province.
Handing out the laptops has been a great start