Teaching passion pays off

Herald Citizen of the Year happy to see his pupils pass matric.

His passion for education and giving poorer pupils the same opportunities as their more affluent former Model C counterparts bore fruit for The Herald GM Citizen of the Year’s matric beneficiaries.

The Rev Dr Simon Gqubule’s Ilitha Lemfundo Enrichment Centre’s 25 matriculants – many of whom had been attending the centre for extra revision classes since Grade 10 – all passed Grade 12.

A number of them – which he could not quantify until they finalise the results analysis on Saturday – are among the province’s 31 774 pupils who qualify to study for bachelor’s degrees and diplomas.

Some have already been accepted by universities in the province, including Grahamstown’s Rhodes University and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU).

A proud Gqubule attributed the centre’s success to what he has consistently stressed – teaching pupils in English to enable them to answer questions set in the language.

“The exam papers, textbooks and support material are all in English so there is no point in teaching pupils in Xhosa.

“Yes, going over it in the mother tongue can help explain a concept better, but they need to understand the subject matter and respond to it in English,” he said.

“A lot of the time a pupil will know the answer to the question, but lack the ability to articulate it in English and thus get marked down.”

A typical day at Ilitha sees pupils going through a compulsory reading session, which Gqubule said went a long way towards increasing pupils’ vocabulary, before their classes.

“We encourage pupils to read and if they have some time between classes they do some reading so that a culture is entrenched in them. Words come easier to people who read.”