Published in The Herald (South Africa) on 4 September 2024
By Simtembile Mgidi
PROUD MOMENT: Ndzondelelo High School maths teacher Vuyolwethu Qweqwe, left, with Eastern Cape education MEC Fundile Gade at the provincial awards
He will now be flying to Johannesburg to compete in the National Teacher Awards for Excellence.
The nervous but excited Qweqwe will put his best foot forward with his presentation in the category of Excellence in Teaching Mathematics (FET) on Wednesday in the hopes of claiming the overall title.
The Nelson Mandela University (NMU) alumnus said he felt proud to represent his province at a national level after being named as the winner of the provincial competition held at the East London International Convention Centre last week.
“My presentation is on teaching mathematics at the FET [further education and training] level, it does not only focus on what I teach as far as mathematics is concerned, the presentation also focuses on what I do as a parent to the pupils.
“Most of the children at our school come from poor backgrounds.
“The majority of them have single parents or they are raised by their grandparents.
“In any competition that I do, be it mathematics or science, I like using those specific children as when we excel we forget that they may not have parents,” Qweqwe said.
The maths and science teacher recently scooped the MEC’s award for extra and co-curricular activities in 2023 after playing a pivotal role in uplifting the pupils and staff at the Zwide school.
Qweqwe started extra classes for pupils, managed to secure a full bursary last year for one of the pupils to attend Rhodes University and bagged R100,000 for the school and R10,000 for himself after winning the Ukhozi FM Back to School competition earlier in 2023.
While he may be the head of department for mathematics, he is better known for having a heart of gold.
“When I see that their [pupils] shoes are worn or their shirt is torn, instead of me spending R350 in a restaurant, I give it to a child in need.
“They can get a belt, shirts … it means a lot to them.
“It is humbling when parents come to the school crying to say thank you.
“I also buy small groceries for such pupils when buying equipment for projects because they remind me of myself when I was growing up.
“I grew up with a single parent.
“My mother sold fruit at the Highway [taxi rank] in Mdantsane and we relied on the loaf of bread that she would return with daily.
“So I battle to look at them,” Qweqwe said.
He said it was his own maths teacher who saw his potential as her top achiever in grade 10 and this eventually saw him pay it forward for his pupils.
“When they graduate it feels like it was just yesterday. Watching my children graduate makes me feel complete as a teacher as though I have fulfilled my goal when they reach their goals,” Qweqwe said.
‘When I see that their [pupils] shoes are worn or their shirt is torn, instead of me spending R350 in a restaurant, I give it to a child in need. They can get a belt, shirts … it means a lot to them’.