Peter Motaung loves his job as a travel and tourism teacher so much that he even uses his spare time to give his students extra lessons.
Mpontsheng Secondary School in Katlehong, Gauteng, is one of 600 schools in South Africa that offers tourism as a subject.
The school added the subject to the curriculum in 2000 after Motaung explained to colleagues and students the necessity of learning about South Africa and the tourism sector’s potential for job creation.
Before lessons could commence, the school had to obtain permission from its district manager and Motaung had to attend workshops on teaching methodology for tourism. The workshops were offered by the South Africa Tourism Institute (Sati), with donor funding received from the government of Spain, in association with the National Business Initiative (NBI).
Sati trains teachers responsible for the delivery of tourism education in high schools, while the NBI is a non-profit organisation addressing issues such as education, job creation, basic needs and governance. The two organisations entered into a partnership in 2001 to train teachers on how to teach tourism in schools.
The subject is offered to students from grades 10 to 12. Learners in Grade 10 are taught about different types of tourists and places and activities of interest for tourists and South Africa as a destination. In Grade 11 they learn about air travel, car hire and ecotourism, while the Grade 12s study  time zones, technology in tourism, trends in tourism and how to develop tour plans for visitors.
The students are not confined to theoretical learning. They also get a chance to put their studies into practice through a week-long internship with travel and tourism companies during the school holidays. The school has entered into a partnership with Johannesburg International Airport, where three learners are hosted for a week each year.
Motaung, who tries to arrange internships for all tourism students, says the aim of the internship is to give learners exposure to the working environment.
According to Motaung, some of the learners go on to study tourism at tertiary level, while some are employed after completing school by the companies where they did internships.
The subject has become so popular at the school that even learners from other streams want to switch subjects — and hopeful learners from other schools want to join in.
Last year the school performed very well in the subject. It obtained a 100% pass rate across all the grades in tourism.
Motaung adds that the school has signed an agreement with the SABC magazine programme Top Billing in terms of which the programme will provide the school with video tapes about tourist destinations.
Learners interviewed by theTeacher not only love the subject but speak highly of their teacher.
Grade 11 pupil Gladys Dingaan says she has been inspired by Motaung. She wants to study tourism marketing and management after completing matric.
‘The subject gives us an opportunity to interact with people. It encourages communities to keep their environment tidy. Our teacher is open with us. He advises us not to give up on what we are doing,†says Dingaan.
Molefi Phahlake, a Grade 12 pupil, was hired on a part-time basis by the Alberton branch of Debonairs after he impressed the company during his one-week internship.
‘What I like about the subject is that you get to do internships with companies and this is something that does not happen with other subjects here at school,†says Phahlake.
Motaung describes himself as a hard-working teacher who loves challenges. He has been a teacher for 17 years and says that he is inspired by the fact that most of his former learners are prospering in life. ‘My motto,†he says, ‘is that I always want to improve the life of an African child.â€