World Teachers’ Day is held annually on October 5 and commemorates the contributions of teachers across the globe. Since its inception in 1994 more than 100 countries have joined in to observe this special day, which aims to mobilise support for the profession. According to Unesco, World Teachers’ Day represents a significant token of the awareness, understanding and appreciation displayed for the vital contribution that teachers make to education and development. the Teacher wishes to acknowledge all our readers on World Teachers’ Day for their massive contribution to educate South Africa’s children. Happy World Teachers’ Day!
Shanthee Manjoo
The thing that immediately strikes you about Shanthee Manjoo is her boundless energy and passion for life.
At 83 years young the diminutive former teacher is showing no signs of slowing down, and has just published her memoirs, titled Classrooms in the Shade. The book documents the 45 years she dedicated to what is a demanding and increasingly stressful profession.
Born and raised in Pietermaritzburg, where she still resides, Manjoo took her first steps into teaching in 1944 as a trainee teacher at the Magazine Barracks Primary School in Durban.
”At that time your options for further education were limited, and you could say that I got into teaching as a last resort. But after my first few months teaching at that school I knew I had found my calling,” she says.
”As the name suggests the facilities at the school were not of the highest standards, but my interactions with the pupils put any doubts I might have had out of my mind.”
After completing her teacher training at the Indian Girls’ High School in Durban the following year, she was posted to St Anthonys Primary School in her hometown in 1946.
”As soon as I arrived there I felt at home. I taught all the primary subjects in the 16 years I spent there and I was responsible for introducing Afrikaans as the second language of instruction during my stay there.”
She explains that it was during this happy period of her life that she realised that education was not just restricted to the classroom, as every experience was an opportunity to learn. Manjoo credits her time at the school with instilling in her the belief that ”while discipline is essential for a school to function, this must be tempered by love and understanding”.
She explains: ”I realised for the first time that education was a mutual process. Just as the children in my class learned from me, I was able to learn from them.”
Sadly her time at the school was abruptly brought to an end in 1960, when the powers that be decided against renewing her contract, leading to what she describes as a ‘dark period” in her life.
”For some or other reason, possibly due to my often unconventional methods, the school decided to let me go. For the following two years I struggled to get full-time employment,” she explains. By that time she had already got married and started a family -times were tough but she persisted.
She eventually found full-time employment at the former ML Sultan Technical College in Pietermaritzburg, her introduction to tertiary education. Manjoo admits that this was an eye-opening experience.
The college offered limited vocational training for youngsters, appearing to set them up for a ”lifetime of menial work” and she was not comfortable with the level of education it offered as ”the needs of the students were not being taken into consideration”.
During her years as an educator at predominantly Indian schools, Manjoo makes it clear that the level of education was blatantly unequal along racial and cultural lines.
”At times I felt like throwing in the towel but felt so guilty at the thought of abandoning a generation that was desperately in need of some inspiration, (so) I stayed put,” she says.
”I never let my dissatisfaction show to my learners, but I feel it was my own children who suffered most. In hindsight it is clear that I didn’t give them as much attention as I should have, and as a result I am still burdened with this guilt.
”Even now I am still trying to make up for this, and that could be the reason I commit so much time to my grandchildren. I think I’m trying to get back that time I missed out on with my own kids.”
Manjoo retired from active teaching in 1995, a ”forced decision” she says, not without a tinge of bitterness. She describes the early 1990s as an exciting time for education in the country, and feels she and other senior teachers who were coerced into retirement at that time still had much to offer the new government.
”I still miss the classroom and I feel I still had it in me to contribute to the emerging South Africa. I have done a few days as a substitute teacher in the years since then and from what I have seen there seems to be more life injected into the lessons these days,” she says.
Manjoo has another book in the pipeline, aimed at young children, and plans to release a volume of short stories she has been accumulating over the years.
Classrooms in the Shade by Shanthee Manjoo is published by STE Publishers and sells for R145.
Dalene Hattingh
At the age of 68 most people prefer to enjoy their twilight years doing sedentary and less stressful things. But there are exceptions. Some within this age bracket still have the energy and passion to keep up with the demands of a typical modern working day.
One such person is Dalene Hattingh. She is a grade three teacher at Parktown Public School in Johannesburg. Officially she retired five years ago but she was bored stiff with the less challenging household chores. When the school governing body approached her to come back she jumped with joy and got on with what she knows best: teaching young people.
The reason she was the school’s first port of call was simple: she amassed years of teaching experience, which makes her a priceless asset. Her skills and ability to work with the fragile minds of grade three learners also counted in her favour.
Grade three learners can be a handful, but Hattingh’s knack for teaching and her warmth and friendliness enabled her to win their confidence and respect. This was evident during some of her lessons where cheerful learners always jostle to be chosen to give an answer.
Most of the learners at her school come from economically poor backgrounds and often come to school hungry or with no shoes or torn school uniforms. Hattingh would go out of her way to cook meals and soups, bake them cakes and sew garments for them – all from her own pocket.
Her colleagues hold her in high esteem and admire her commitment. They enjoy her company. Dorcas Misha, a colleague who has known her since 1999, described her as an ”extremely dedicated and caring person”.
Misha said Hattingh is an extraordinary person whose entire life revolves around teaching. ”She is a fitting role-model and a living testimony of what teaching is all about. She is a born teacher,” said Misha.
She said that when Hattingh took over as a head of the department, things changed as her sense of selflessness and commitment rubbed off on to every teacher. She said Hattingh brought in the element of competition in terms of displaying values that teaching is associated with, such as caring, hard work and cleanliness. ”The day she finally retires she will leave a deep void indeed. How I wish that day does not come,” she said.
George Mosweu
They say a true teacher is the one who is always willing to put in extra effort beyond what his or her duty requires.
George Mosweu, a teacher at Phahama Secondary School in Mohlakeng, west of Gauteng, epitomises this expression. When a scourge of gangsterism, with some of the learners being ring leaders, plagued his school, he stepped in.
As with any other gang, they unleashed a wave of terror within the school community – stealing, robbing, smoking dagga and molesting other learners with impunity. This nearly forced the school to shut down because most learners and teachers barely stopped short of staying home.
Although some teachers attempted to intervene, they felt scared and powerless. Mosweu realised a different approach was necessary and came up with a strategy, which involved one-on-one chats with the rogue learners. Through this he was able to get a handle on the real cause behind the chaos.
The majority of, if not all, gang members came from poor and disintegrated families where they had to practically fend for themselves. Some came to school hungry, without washing, or with no school uniform.
They had no role models to look up to. Life had no meaning for them and the only way they could get out of the trap of poverty and hopelessness was to form themselves into a gang because they were sure to get some money, even if it meant harming other people.
The critical part of Mosweu’s winning strategy was taking learners on visits to prison cells. The reason for this was to expose them to harsh prison life and also get them to interact with those serving terms. He also organised motivational talks with some of the sentenced prisoners who shared stories with the learners about how they ended up in prison.
This was a sobering experience for the learners, who returned from prison rattled and in tears. The icing on the cake was when they voluntarily disbanded their gang, surrendered their deadly weapons and vowed to turn over a new leaf. Today some of them have found decent jobs, while others are furthering their studies at tertiary institutions.
By sheer coincidence there was an NGO called Pillar to Post, which shares a similar objective as Mosweu’s. Armed with a coherent plan and some resources it targets schools that have a history of a culture of violence.
The programme is in full swing and is being put to action in more schools with the help of the education department.