Education
28
Waterberg District (Department of Education)
Website
Mpho Digashu is a 28-year-old senior education specialist, making him among the youngest in the country in this role. His responsibilities include helping educators in Waterberg District in Limpopo integrate technology in their teaching to enhance learning and to ensure that there is inclusivity and differentiated teaching. He conducts workshops for his colleagues and other educators; promotes information and communication technologies in communities; collaborates with social partners with the same goals and monitors and supports schools in Waterberg through visits and virtual meetings. He also makes sure teachers and schools have resources. Mpho is the author of the book Finding Me Now, published in 2018. He runs an organisation named after the book. He is also a motivational speaker, a coding and robotics master trainer and a volunteer with several other organisations, including the Waterberg Welfare Society. He has won provincial and national teaching awards and has been selected as one of the Young African Leaders to represent the country in the Mandela Washington Fellowship 2023. “I would love to see a South Africa that looks inwards for solutions and does not assume that solutions are out there. A South Africa that retains talent at any cost and fully utilises it. A country that prioritises education for all children and ensures that context is taken into consideration and barriers do not affect the kind of education a learner receives,” Mpho says.
- Post Graduate Diploma in Public Management (cum laude), Regenesys
- Bachelor of Education degree, Wits University
- Coding and Robotics certificate, DBE
- ICT integration Certificate, Wits University
- Entrepreneurship generator certificate, Wits Business School.
- 2023 Mandela Washington Fellow
- National 3rd Best Secondary School Educator, National Teaching Awards, 2022
- Provincial Best Secondary School Educator
- Waterberg District Best Secondary School Educator
- Top Student Award, Regenesys, 2022
- Golden Key International Honour Society, Wits, 2014
My mother, who is a teacher, would always say, “If you want to live like a king in future, you must live like a slave now,” after waking me up at 4.30am to study. I have cherished those moments and her words still ring in my head as I continue to wake up early and labour towards my success, touching young and old South Africans’ lives through education, my book (Finding Me Now) and speaking engagements.
Read as many self-help books as you can. Watch out for what you listen to, watch and read. Keep good company and pray for wisdom.
I would love to see a South Africa that looks inwards for solutions and does not assume that solutions are out there. A South Africa that retains talent at any cost and fully utilises it. A country that prioritises education for all children and ensures that context is taken into consideration and barriers do not affect the kind of education a learner receives. One that is united to fight against all injustices, women and children abuse, ill-treatment of all people and finally, crime.