Mpumalanga - In spite of the negative impact that Covid-19 had across the country in the teaching and learning environment, Mpumalanga Education MEC Bonakele Majuba honoured all teachers at the occasion of the provincial event for the National Teaching Awards
The provincial department of education honoured all teachers for being committed and dedicated to their work even under extreme challenges like Covid-19 .
In his opening remarks, the MEC said they saluted all teachers from the Early Childhood Development Centres (ECD), Special Schools and the mainstream, “all of them are truly important to us”. He stated that all 33 000 teachers in the province were all winners.
“Today, we celebrate teachers who understand that the only way out of poverty for the children of the working class and the poor is through education and thus are working to achieve this goal,” he said.
Majuba said it was the same teachers they celebrated who will take Mpumalanga to a brighter future where doubt, fear, ignorance and hopelessness will hopefully be something of the past.
“A good teacher is truly the most important and precious resource to guide a child, provide skills, knowledge, values and attitudes. We owe a huge debt of gratitude to all these teachers who continue to provide our learners with education at times under trying circumstances,” he said.
He stated that the department together with its partners, would make strides to improve the conditions of service for teaching and learning to thrive.
He said the National Teaching Awards enabled the department to provide an opportunity for all to recognise, learn and share best practices.
“We therefore thank teachers for their unrelenting efforts to better the lives of our learners and communities,” he added.
He said the department partnered with Old Mutual to capacitate teachers on financial literacy.
“Mathematical literacy as one of the subjects in the curriculum is used as a vehicle to enable learning continuity and improved learning outcomes through the integration of financial education from a business perspective from Old Mutual.
To this end, 69 Mathematical Literacy teachers from across the four districts in the province were identified for training using online means. Twenty-four teachers from the group were recognised and awarded prizes for their commitment and dedication in completing the training programme.
“We would like to thank Old Mutual for their interest and support in building the capacity of our teachers with personal finance but also with practical skills to better teach the financial literacy concept to Grade 10 -12 learners,” he said.
He told teachers that their great work and being great teachers, role models of the profession and ambassadors of the province were recognised and acknowledged.
“Thank you very much for your patriotic generosity. Your support does not go unnoticed,” he said.