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South Africa – Mokhudu Machaba

They say that the hardships in life transform you for the better. Such is the story of Mokhudu Machaba, a visionary primary school teacher at Ngwanamago Primary School in South Africa. She is a Microsoft Certified Educator since 2015, and has been teaching since 2003. She has made a mark for herself in the education industry and there are many more achievements that are going to come her way. She was one of the key finalists of the Global Teacher Prize and is keen to educate in ways that were missing from her childhood.

DRIVING FORCE

A rice sack for a school bag and a river to cross barefoot. Those were the challenges Mokhudu faced during her school years coming from the weak economic sections of the society. She was pregnant at the age of 15 which created a bump in her education, but she was back to school and aced her subjects in the year that followed. Her mother recognized her unfettered spirit when it came to learning and she wanted her to chart out a unique path for herself. Given the state of their financial standing, Mokhudu had to pursue domestic work alongside to fund her education. Her determination convinced her parents and she found herself at a technical college to study child care followed by a teaching qualification from Soweto College. Her own personal struggle has been a driving factor that led her to becoming a teacher, to give children like her a better chance at a fair education – one that is backed by technological efforts in making it available to children across geographies and communities.

IMPACT

She kickstarted internet access to her students with a single cell phone, and there was no stopping her after! Her efforts were recognised by ISPA, a body that has donated laptops to her school. She was also the runner-up in the ISPA Super Teacher Prize for ICT integration in the classroom. She also holds the recognition of being one of the 50 Inspiring women in Tech for South Africa.

During her career, she has trained over 600 peers across South Africa at conferences, summits and more. 200 community members also got a download on computer literacy and these members mainly comprised of Youth and Women. Being a certified Microsoft Educator, she has also introduced innovative sessions in the classroom such as Coding Week by using Minecraft as an introduction. She also makes efforts to connect her students with other students all over the world using the Microsoft Educator platform.

CHALLENGE

Being a teacher in South Africa, the challenges never truly go away. With deep rooted societal norms and the hesitation towards adopting technology continue to remain obstacles.

A lack of resources and poor connectivity in many parts remain a challenge for implementing ICT and gearing up for the 4th Industrial Revolution. A devastating reality remains the technophobia of even educators because of which students suffer.

Poverty, lack of awareness, and unemployment are societal evils that are still very much prevalent and efforts to transform the community through education is one way to eradicate and create real change. Mokhudu is a firm believer that ICT led education can create real change.

STEP FORWARD

Mokhudu is one of the partners of Ranjitsinh Disale Foundation who has access to the funds Ranjitsinh Disale received after winning the Global Teacher Prize 2020. With these funds, Mokhudu plans to set up a site (Onground and online) for teaching coding lessons and entrepreneurial skills to students.

Some of the funds will also be used to obtain Software licences and for training fellow teachers in ICT. She has established PLC’s in 3 districts where ICT has been integrated into Curriculum, Moodle LMS through the Department of basic Education and CDELTA Courses through SchoolNetSA. Her school has also been identified as a pilot school for coding and robotics by the government, so the students and teachers will both benefit from these changes introduced by our star teacher.