Teacher is a community leader and local heroine

Published Aug 26, 2020

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Johannesburg - Mabel Sikhakhane, the head of department of the foundation phase at Nokuphila Primary School in Tembisa, wears many hats besides teaching.

She’s considered a heroine and community leader.

Besides her school duties, Sikhakhane is also the chairperson of Nokuphila’s school-based support (SBS) team. She also founded the Radisela aftercare and drop-in centre in her community.

As SBS chairperson, she helps learners overcome learning barriers, which range from academic acuity, domestic issues, health and other psychosocial challenges. The school-based support team consists of a counsellor, which is Sikhakhane, a social worker, qualified remedial teachers and a therapist.

The SBS team come up with strategies and advise teachers on what to do, be it providing food parcels for the child to take home, or adopting a new teaching method, as not all children learn the same way.

Sikhakhane is also a mentor for student teachers at Nokuphila, teaching them the correct attitudes, behaviours, and values in order to help them be role models for their learners.

The teachers also ran Covid-19 workshops for parents, helping them to understand the facts about the virus.

Before the teachers counsel others, they receive psychosocial support themselves, to be better equipped to offer support to parents and learners traumatised by the pandemic.

This illustrates that teachers don’t just cater to the children’s academic needs, they are also community leaders, playing a large role in the child’s spiritual, emotional and physical well-being.

Sikhakhane is the founder of the Radisela aftercare and drop-in centre where orphans, children from child-headed families and children raised by their elderly grandparents can come after school to get supper and have their school uniforms cleaned and prepared for the following day.

The staff conduct home visits to investigate the child’s home situation, especially if there is suspected abuse, which they then report. They have also established a women’s group to help bereaved families with funeral costs.

When asked how she measured the success of all her hard work, Sikhakhane said she looked at how the learner performed academically, the impact on a child’s situation at home, especially the change in parents’ involvement participate in their child’s education. “Changing the parents means you will change the community and society at large,” she said.

Nokuphila Primary was founded in 2009, by the Love Trust, a non-profit organisation with a vision to nurture future generations of leaders.

It provides vulnerable children with quality education and social care that includes academic excellence, spiritual strength and moral integrity.

It provides vocational tertiary education and training of teachers, and strives to reduce poverty and social inequality through holistic education and care of children, including nutrition, psychosocial and remedial support, as well empowering black women to qualify as teachers and equip them to be leaders in their communities.

* This Women’s Month, IOL in collaboration with the African News Agency, are calling on our readers, corporate partners and staff to nominate a woman who embodies the spirit of the women who took part in the 1956 march on the Union Buildings, by empowering and uplifting her community, fellow women or industry.

The #SheIsMyRock nominee will be featured on IOL and you could stand a chance of winning an awesome gift for her, thanks to our sponsors Dove, JC le Roux and Sorbet.

To enter, email us at [email protected] or WhatsApp to 074 557 3535, include a picture of the inspirational woman in your life and tell us why she is your rock. Text, audio and video entries will be accepted.

The Star

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