Ramaano’s passion is education

Olefetswe David Ramaano is passionate about education.

Now the school principal at Berea Primary School, Ramaano started teaching during his high school years.

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He told the EXPRESS he first taught while in matric when he presented lessons to his peers in subjects he was good at, especially languages.

“My English teacher and the subject itself motivated me to become a teacher. My teacher saw my potential and gave me a chance to present or lead some lessons in literature. Personally, I never thought of studying at a tertiary institution nor teaching as a career. I was always interested and loved working with my hands. But presenting lessons to a group of my peers was enjoyable. My teachers and peers would always commend my knowledge, presentation skills and my command of the English language and reckoned I will make a great teacher, especially in languages,” he said.

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Ramaano matriculated from Mathipa Makgato High School in Lebowa, a former homeland.

After completing his matric, he studied and completed a primary school teaching diploma at Bochum College of Education, which was still in Lebowa in 1995.

“I worked in Limpopo Province at several schools as a temporary teacher from January 1996 to March 1997 after completing my diploma.

“In April 1997, I decided to change the scenery and moved to Johannesburg to search for greener pastures, especially better working conditions and development. Between May 1997 and August 1998, I did menial jobs around Johannesburg just to get by. In 1998, I decided to take a break from any form of work to find myself and my purpose,” he said.

In February 1999, Ramaano was appointed as a Grade Three and Four teacher at Excelsior Primary and High School.

“In 2001, I was allocated to teach Grade Four, Five, Six and Seven languages, social sciences (HSS) and economics and management sciences (EMS), which were new subjects as Curriculum 2005/Outcome-based education (OBE) was introduced in the country.

“I became part of a team facilitating the introduction of Curriculum 2005/OBE in the school and empowered myself through attending development workshops and enrolling for a higher diploma in education at the University of the Witwatersrand.

“My efforts were recognised by management. I led extra and co-curricular activities, especially soccer, athletics and entertainment. I worked at Excelsior until January 2003 when it merged with Task Academy in Mayfair.

“I was then appointed as a permanent teacher at Thusong Public School in October 2003. There I taught English first additional language and arts and culture. It’s there that my potential as a leader and manager was realised and developed by serving in curricular committees and school development teams,” he said.

In February 2006, he secured a promotional position as a head of department (HOD) at Asteri Primary School.

“My main mandate was to grow the school into a fully-fledged primary school, starting with Grade Five in 2006 and gradually introducing higher grades until we had our first Grade Seven class in 2008, as well as teacher development.

“I taught most of the subjects and was a manager to all teachers in the phase. In 2011, I was appointed as a deputy principal. The school became a centre for excellence and grew to greater heights. I was in this position until May 2015 when I was appointed as principal for Berea Primary School,” he said.

In 2012, Ramaano also had the chance to train Intermediate Phase Language teachers in Johannesburg East District in the introduction of Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (Caps).

He achieved several awards in extra and co-curricular activities.

“I have also been recognised as the best teacher in most of the schools that I have worked at in the Johannesburg East District,” he said.

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