Doreen Mokgolo
Co-founder of the African School for Excellence, Nohlanhla Masina, has proven that hard work does pay off.
She was recently crowned the winner in the sub-Saharan Africa regional stage of the Cambridge International Schools Dedicated Teacher Awards.
Her love for her community led to her opening a prestigious high school in Tsakani township, Ekurhuleni in 2013.
Masina says that she identified that many first year tertiary students from townships lacked basic skills even to express themselves in English.
“I decided to dedicate myself to improving the state of education in township schools by offering free extra lessons.
“This motivated me to open the school, catering for my community,” she added.
She was nominated for the work she put in during the country’s hard lockdown restrictions, when learning in formal classes was suspended.
She took the challenge to teach six classes in four subjects: Mathematics, Chemistry, Physics and Global Perspective and Research for grade 11 and 12.
“We were unable to fill the positions. I then decided to step-up to take over the classes because I had in the past facilitated them.
“I could not allow the learners, especially those in matric to be left behind in their studies,” she explained.
Masina added that, as part of the programme, she instituted WhatsApp classes to be able to reach all the learners, ensuring that every one of them received internet data and an external keyboard from the school.
Through all these sacrifices, the 2020 matric class achieved an 80 percent pass with a bachelor, which is by far the best results it has ever had.
The award automatically paves the way for Masina to compete in the global category where she will go up against the winners from other regions across the globe.
Masina holds a MSc (med) Pharmaceutics, BSc Honours in Biochemistry and Cell Biology and a BSc in Biological Sciences all from the University of the Witwaterstrand.
She has been recognised as one of the Mail & Guardian 200 Young South Africans for her work in education.
