Johannesburg – Thokozani Jele and Tshepiso Mahura are two of North West University’s youngest lecturers who are passionate about mathematics.
Their aim, they say, is to make mathematics fashionable.
The duo has extended a helping hand to the greater North West pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds to help them excel in mathematics, a subject they believe is the answer to unemployment.
Born in Newcastle in Kwa- Zulu-Natal, Jele says he failed maths in matric because he took it for granted that he was good at the subject, but got a rude awakening in the final exams.
The following year, he upped his game, but says 60% wasn’t his greatest achievement. A few years later, the 27-year-old completed his qualifications in applied maths and statistics, having finished his master’s in record eight months at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
Now a lecturer at North West University’s Vanderbijlpark Campus, Jele is completing his PhD working on b-metric spaces and hopes to be a professor at the campus.
“I failed because of ignorance. I learnt the hard way that maths is something you have to practise every day. When I mastered solving problems, I realised this subject is not that difficult,” says Jele.
“I know it will solve many of our unemployment problems as it’s the backbone of so many careers. This is why I decided to help others who are struggling. It needs to be seen as something fashionable among our young children.”
Being a young lecturer is challenging though, says Jele, adding that his background in maths helps him solve problems creatively.
His best friend, Tshepiso Mahura, 28, is also a lecturer in his second year of PhD specialising in financial statistics. The Vryburg-born says although his parents can’t read and write, they have three children who are excelling at university thanks to their top performance in mathematics.
“My parents did not see the value of education. In my area, no one had big dreams. People just lived to survive. After passing matric, I decided to further my studies,” says Mahura.
“I first studied psychology, but had to drop out due to financial constraints and stayed at home for two years. While at home, I did different jobs including herding livestock, shopkeeping at a butchery and running errands at a construction company.”
After saving enough money to pay off his university debt, he went back and studied statistics.
But Mahura says he wasn’t always one for numbers.
“I would get really low marks in grade 10 and 11. I challenged myself to do better by spending time solving maths problems every day. Soon I found it fun and easy, the tougher the problem, the stronger my yearning was to fi nd a solution.”
He now spends his weekends assisting pupils at various schools and on the university campus to solve maths problems.
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