Johannesburg – Bernard Cement, a Limpopo Mathematics teacher, was recognised for his brilliant teaching skills with a Stella Clark award by the University of Cape Town last week.
The prestigious accolade honours the memory of Stella Clark, a language development lecturer in UCT’s Centre for Higher Education Development.
The university said in a statement that the award pays homage to and recognises teachers’ outstanding contributions to the field and their unwavering commitment to their pupils, despite difficult circumstances in severely under-resourced settings.
Under his guidance and dedication, hundreds of pupils managed to score 80% and higher for the subject in the last ten years. He said this is due to hard work from both his side and the dedication from the pupils.
Having taught at EPP Mhinga High School in rural Limpopo since 2012, he said his secret was that he’d be at school at 6.30am, an hour before official starting time, giving extra lessons to the children who were struggling.
“I call it intensive care. Because our classes are so big, sometimes up to 60 children per class, it is impossible to give individual attention during teaching time – so we make up for it by coming in early and on Saturdays and when it’s exam time, even Sundays becomes a school day,” he said.
The Covid-19 pandemic also saw him put in more time and effort as pupils were not allowed at schools and were then placed on rotating timetables.
“To say it was a battle would be an understatement. We had to get even more creative. We actually thought we failed as only two pupils got 100% while the other Matrics scored just over 80. Hopefully this year we will do much better,” he said.
The 48 year old father of two, said his secret to teaching was that he tells pupils to tackle a problem one way because the “manual says so”, he rather embrace their opinions and suggestions, does his own adequate research and prepares intensive but creative lessons.
Qualification for the Stella Award must come from a student and this year in the 15th instalment of the awards, Akani Tshabalala’s nominated Cement.
He said that even after four years of being at varsity, when he saw the Stella Clark Award call for nominations, the only person who came to my was Bernard.
Tshabalala, a fourth year electrical engineering student, described Cement not only as a maths genius – but also as a father figure, and the epitome of excellence and creativity.
“You showed the same commitment and dedication to every student in your class, whether they attained 90% or 9%. Because of your dedication, I achieved 100% in my matric maths trial exam. I did pretty well in the final exam too. That’s why I got in to UCT,” said Tshabalala.
Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, who also started her career as a mathematics teacher, said: “It is on the shoulders of teachers like these that so many of our UCT students stand today. We are indebted to these teachers for refusing to allow poverty and a lack of resources to stand in the way of greatness.”
Cement, originally from Zimbabwe, said he was honoured that his work was recognised and he hoped that his lessons would benefit many more children.
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