Over 1000 teachers attend Penreach awards ceremony

WHITE RIVER – The annual Penreach Teacher Awards were held on Saturday, November 21, during which the excellence and outstanding contributions of teachers in the Penreach in-service training programme were recognised.

Over 1 000 teachers from Mpumalanga attended the event at the college and
Mr Paul Harris, chairman of the Penryn Trust, praised them all.

Speaking on behalf of the MEC for education, Dr Henry van Zyl commended Penreach’s teacher-development programme and hailed it as “one of the most important skills-development activities in the province”.

“Mpumalanga is richer for the work that Penreach does,” Van Zyl said.

A total of 1 186 teachers received certificates for, among others, natural sciences, maths, languages, technology, and barriers to learning, sign language, literacy and numeracy among others.

Ms Maria Thoko Nkuna of Maminza Primary School in Pienaar outdid her peers by scooping the coveted Teacher of the Year title. This award recognises teachers who have, among others, consistently shown great improvement in content mastery, classroom handling and unwavering commitment to self-development.

An ecstatic Nkuna said she owed her success to always doing the job right, not taking anything for granted and taking no short cuts.

“I encourage other teachers to stand up and reskill themselves by attending Penreach workshops. They have rekindled my passion for teaching,” said Nkuna.

Ms Ntombifuthi Nkosi of Gateway Educare Centre in Daantjie was crowned Early Childhood Development Practitioner of the Year.

The head of Penreach, Mr Andile Ncontsa lamented the lack of investment in early-childhood development.

“I am concerned, as all of us should be, about a silent group of our children who cannot hash tag, throw stones or burn things, for whom we all have a duty to be the voice. That is children between zero and six years, ” he said.

Ncontsa added that children have been neglected while stakeholders engaged in a futile and costly exercises to correct matric results, whereas it would have made more sense to give learners who are at the most critical stage of cognitive, psychological and physical development, a head start.

“This is the space in which government, business and non-governmental organisations must join hands to level the learning and playground so to speak,” he said.

The guest speaker Mr Sibusiso Vilane, the first black African to summit Mount Everest, shared his inspirational life story. His central message was “Teachers who can are teachers who can rise up to the challenge”.

“No obstacle is insurmountable, no terrain is unconquerable. What matters most is to constantly remember why we do what we do, ” said Vilane.