Math And Science Teachers Bring Home New Skills from the U.S.
Thabo Khumalo (32) was born in the rural village of Qwa Qwa in the Eastern Free State Province. As a young boy, he hated math and science because the teachers lacked knowledge and resources, so the subjects were boring. He was also discouraged because his school didn’t have water and electricity. His parents struggled with their sparse income to send Thabo and his six siblings to school.
Today, Thabo is a math and science teacher. Demand is high for this specialty profession and he wanted to fill the gap. Thabo has just returned from the United States Agency for International
Development’s (USAID) sponsored third Leadership course, held at Prince George’s Community College in the American State of Maryland. He was supported by a crowd of 20 family, friends and colleagues when he left
Johannesburg International Airport in May. Thabo’s colleague, Mr. Shibane, said, “It is wonderful that Thabo is going to get new skills from the U.S; he will bring back new ideas to develop our people and further our children’s knowledge in math and science.” During this 10 week program, each South African teacher worked closely with U.S. counterparts, receiving on-the-job training, student-teaching experiences and leadership development. USAID provides $1.7million (about R10 million) for intensive training with Prince George’s Center for Academic Resource Development. USAID supports South Africa’s Department of Education national strategy to improve math, science and technology education in schools dedicated to these subjects. The program is called “Dinaledi,” which means “stars” in the Northern Sotho language, lighting the way as centers of teaching and learning excellence. One hundred and thirty-four educators have benefited from the program. USAID provides training, while companies such as Microsoft and MultiChoice contribute equipment to upgrade teaching abilities.
Since moving to Thabong township in 1999, Thabo has taught at Lebogang
Secondary School. He noticed that half the community’s adults have not been to school, and about 90% of the surrounding population is illiterate. He plans to
improve the situation by sharing his knowledge with as many teachers and students as possible. He will hold workshops and teach others in his province to work with graphic calculators, apply effective strategies with students and use technology for science experiments. Thabo hopes to motivate nearly 1,000 learners in his school to love math and science, especially girls, who avoid the challenges by
considering them “men’s” subjects. He is determined to dispel other misconceptions, too. “Learners think the subjects are difficult and useless for the job market. I want them to discover the wonders of math and science and produce good results.”
Thabo and his colleagues are positive about the work ahead of them. They now have tools and resources to open students’ and teachers’ eyes to new
perspectives in math and science. “I will continue supporting teaching long after I retire because it is my duty to act as a mentor and guide those who need us.” He also believes that, “An educated nation is a prosperous nation”, because once you have a skilled teacher you will have skilled learners who are seeds for a great nation.
