Tutor aims to change the world through education
Shayanewaka said he preferred pupils who were more mature, “I have noticed that if I deal with people who have low levels of maturity. I have to deal with personality issues and I don’t have time to deal with the personal growth of the student.”
Nelson Mandela said “education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. However, the circumstances and conditions under which students gained access to information and knowledge remained a challenge in South Africa. Although the matric pass rate for last year stood at 75,8 per cent, this was not an adequate reflection of South Africa’s education system.
Mathematics and physical science remained a challenge to learners. According to Equal Education 53,5 per cent of the 225 458 learners who wrote the mathematics exam achieved marks above 30 per cent, and 61,5 of the 167 997 who wrote the physical-science exam achieved marks above 30 per cent. This was why it was all the more important that pupils received all the help they could get. In Barberton help for pupils was in the form of Walter Shayanewaka.
Shayanewaka is a mathematician and physicist with a bachelor’s degree from Jacobs University of Berlin (Germany) and a master’s in mathematical physics at Saint Louis University (United States of America). Shayanewaka began offering a tutoring service to secondary school learners in 2013. The classes were held at Chicago in the township, where he tutored mathematics and physics to grades 10 to 12 at R130 per month.
He extended his university lecturing experience to students studying mathematics, chemistry, applied mathematics, mechanical engineering and chemical engineering. Shayanewaka said he preferred pupils who were more mature, “I have noticed that if I deal with people who have low levels of maturity. I have to deal with personality issues and I don’t have time to deal with the personal growth of the student.” He said this was because he tried to focus on intellectual growth. “If I deal with very young people there is a lot of discipline issues that I have to deal with… I would rather have people who know what they want and know what they came [here] for.”
Zenani Shabangu (18) is a matriculant of Barberton Combined School who said she came to Shayanewaka because she struggled to understand mathematics while in grade 11 as she had not done it in grade 10. Zenani said, “I was not doing well. He helped us because sometimes our teacher does not show up at school and she only gives us questions and corrections. At first I did not understand but I saw my marks improve.”
Yenzokuhle Lushaba (19) said she came from Kwazulu-Natal and her grandmother told her about Shayanewaka. “I got a level-1 in maths. I never even knew how to solve X but now I’m the best solver of X.”
Benny Phiri (19) a learner of Barberton High School explained that it helped to find a tutor in the location who could teach him maths and science. Benny said it helped because “normally when you seek help you have to travel to Nelspruit just to find a tutor and it can be expensive”. Benny said he was not performing well in grade 11 because of “a lack of maturity, not accepting the responsibility that you expect in each grade” and also failing to organise his time. He said Shayanewaka helped him with more than his marks.
”He also transformed the way I lived and the way I view academics.” Tshidiso Mashabane a matriculant at Emjindi Secondary School said he understood the way Shayanewaka taught and he was able to give them special attention. “Walter gives us extra information, and he can repeat things we don’t understand.”
The tutor explained that a lack of motivation was one of the complex issues learners faced. “Learners do not know why they should learn in the first place.” As a solution to this he suggested creating better role models and tackling the problem head on. Another challenge he highlighted was that the system was not designed to allow for reativity and free thought.
“It is a system that rewards people for thinking the same way hence we see someone has to get some answer and work it a certain way to be appreciated.” He suggested to foster creativity and embrace the fact that if humanity all thought the same way then life would be boring. ”People should think differently, they need creativity.”
Shayanewaka would like for his students to be changed by education. Even though he plans to leave in April he believes it will not be the end but instead just an expansion of the ”new nerd alliance” which he aims to create.
