World Teachers Day is a special commemoration, observed worldwide annually on the 5th of October.

I must confess, I dread World Teachers Day; because of having to answer the famous question – “Who’s that one teacher who’s made the biggest impact on your life?” – because when I think about it and reflect on this deeply and honestly – for me, there’s not just one, it’s an entire village of them.

So, I went back, from my Grade 1 teacher (Mrs N. Gasa, the woman who first taught me how to read and write) and worked my way up from there to sort of attempt to put a name to the impact as experienced from one point to the next in my schooling career. I know there are many other teachers who may not be on the list per se, and I sincerely apologize for that but a point I am attempting to drive home here is that it’s not just one teacher, but an entire community of people, who happened to be my teachers, that made an impact on me.

I am a proud product of two very functional public and township schools, I may add, from Soweto and it’s a journey and experience that I never take for granted nor try to hide or amend. Those two schools, for me, served as the foundation to the type of person I am today, and they were incubators of passion, dedication, discipline and excellence all round.

All my teachers worked very well together, were professional and passionate about their work and us as their learners and customers. Incredible human beings, who are still at it to this day. I also believe that it was also a function of who was the head at the time, both school principals Mrs Molotsi and Mr Nxumalo respectively, were instrumental to the rhythm of the schools and how they were led.

I have been blessed to meet up with some of them, years later and tell them how grateful I am to them, while I still need to find time and do the same for others, God willing. I have also been present to pay my last respects when three of them were laid to rest. May their souls continue to rest in peace.

I remember one teacher from my primary School (Itemogele Primary School in Protea Glen) who taught three different grades in one class. This was not a norm at the school, but an arrangement had to be made to accommodate exceptions, which was the case with this. I will never forget her because her name is my mom’s name. I’ve since seen her, years later and told her how brilliant I thought she was. She never really taught me, but I was always fascinated by how she navigated three different grades in one class and how she made that work. This was Mrs Johanna Mashavhanduna, who taught the foundation phase Tshivhenda-speaking learners at Itemogele.

Some of them inspired my love for choral music and they were instrumental in helping me harness that talent, which still defines the type of music I am inclined towards listening and liking. These individuals are Mr Mazibuko (who was the school’s choir conductor at Itemogele Primary School, Mr Ndweni and the late Mr Shabalala, who respectively both conducted musical lessons at my high school at Tetelo Secondary School). I appreciate them for their passion, efforts and undying spirits to inculcate the love of choral music at both schools. I have memorable moments of us competing in district competitions, how much hard work went into learning a song using musical notes only and then learning to insert the words to the notes afterwards, how miraculous it would be when we first sang the entire song to its completion using the actual words or lyrics only. It was a step-by-step process that was taken bit by bit, segment by segment of the song and we often had to come during school holidays, just so that we can advance and meet the deadline for the music competitions. An experience, I will always treasure and miss.

There was a time, later on in my school years though when I lost out on an opportunity of a lifetime; to be part of a major provincial choir after I had auditioned and gotten accepted into it. It was a difficult decision, one I had to make unfortunately but I now regret, somehow but life went and does go on.

There was a high school teacher of mine; now this one was by far the most well-organized teacher I have ever had. Not that she was the only one but man, with her, there was always structure, logic, flow and order. She managed her work diligently and executed it just as much, if not more. She was pedantic and insisted on nothing more from us. She taught me Life Orientation for a couple of years, a subject that many learners did not enjoy as much but she made it worthwhile and intriguing. There was purpose, meaning and significance to how she treated the subject and her work as a teacher also.

I recall a time in class, maybe Grade 10 or 11 where there was one fellow learner in class who had said that he did not receive an assignment that was due on a particular day. This was odd because majority of us in the class had received it and knew it was due. For some reason, this teacher of mine was unsure as well. She then went back to the staff room, picked her file and came with it to the class. She went meticulously through it and picked up where the issue was. At that moment she said, I was in this class on a particular date (which she mentioned) and handed the assignment over to the class. Here are my notes and here is the proof of what I am saying. This then meant that my fellow classmate was lying, and our teacher had managed to catch him out objectively so. That’s one of the stories I recall that show how aligned and structured her work was. It was very difficult to catch her off.

This teacher of mine is Mrs Mhlongo S.M.R. She was affectionately referred to as that because at that time, there was more than one Mhlongo teacher as part of the staff.

I still have to meet up with her and tell her this story as a snippet reminder of her excellence as a teacher. In research assignments she would usually dish out, she would read every single sentence I wrote and will have a comment on each page, check for spelling or grammatically error and logic also. All of these will be in red on the assignment. By this, she also would catch me out, every now and then, saying one paragraph is not making sense as it appears to not be related to the topic at all or does not connect well with the other parts of the assignment. As a sidenote: learners do know the teachers who are critical and who do scrutinize and look at the finer details to their schoolwork and which ones are not. She was the exception and most of us knew that we could not play her at all. This is an example of how a teacher’s conduct can inadvertently encourage learners to do better and to check themselves out first before submitting anything.

Later on in my schooling career, the aspect of plagiarism and referencing came up and I had to take it into account when submitting any formal work for assessment. I remembered her and how she emphasized that back then in high school and insisted that we reference the sources to any information we share on assignments, she was big on that. I credit her for instilling that sense of cross referencing in me and the ability to verify and use sources accordingly. I always double checked my schoolwork each time before submitting, this was especially any work of mine she had to mark.

Then, there was a woman who insisted that our class becomes the center of cleanliness, an example to all the other classes in the school and this was her mission. As a result, you dare not have a piece of paper, dirt or litter whatsoever on the floor or make footmarks on the front portion of her class. That was a rule. That portion of her class was always spotless and shining. Each time someone came into our class, we had to warn them to not walk on the front porch and rather use the carpet path instead.

That class, I still remember it quite well (Room 20 at Itemogele Primary School) was the neatest of all Grade 4 classes at that time. I was glad and proud to see her as the Deputy Principal of the same school I attended. This woman is Mrs Rose Tshivhase, we use to call her Ma’am Rose or Ma’am Tshivhase.

I forgot to mention her beautiful handwriting on the chalkboard – My goodness, it was so neat and stunning, a complete work or art and I was always fascinated by it so much that I always wanted my work and handwriting as well to match hers so badly. She really embedded the aspect of cleanliness being next to godliness in us from an early age. Always insisted on us being in neat and full school uniform. I have since met up with her and told her how she helped me navigate through being bullied while I was at school.

See I was also a victim of being bullied in school for how I looked and when it came to her ears, she decided to publicly address it and that was for the first time I saw someone standing up for me and trying to put an end to the issue. This act of hers helped me work my self-confidence a lot and I appreciated it. It’s important to speak out about bullying and for teachers to do something about it.

Then there’s one teacher who really made me fall in love with books and reading by how she would carry her lessons and do storytelling as part of her English lessons in Primary School. She would come with what she called ‘a mini library” with a set of books for us to read. She gave each one of us a chance to come forth to select a book and take some time, during her lesson to read it. As soon as the reading time was done, she would request a review and feedback from all of us. She really planted that inspirational seed in me a long time ago. She would also come with a big book story, where she will be the one who reads it out loud for us. How she would go through the cover page and ask us questions around it, predict what the story could be all about then page for a couple of pages, only focusing on the illustrations and still asking us to tell her what we’re thinking without reading or showing us the words. Man, her lessons were always a highlight, and my worst days will always be the days when she was absent. I would dread those days to be honest.

She still takes the record as the one primary school teacher who has been my class teacher for two years consecutively. She was my class teacher in Grades 5 and 6 and taught me English for both years.

I remember once talking to her that I would like to own a newspaper or magazine one day and that I have an idea around it and some few articles written, and I would give her samples of that work for this imaginary publication of mine. I remember how she would bother herself to read it and give me regular feedback on it. I am happy I got to hunt down Mrs Mihloti Mkhabela and meet up with her to show her my gratitude. She also took some time to give me advice for my currently years of life, one never stops being a teacher and a learner, no matter how many years have and will pass.

Rescue me

Then there was one teacher who rescued me from making a potentially poorly thought of choices of subjects when I made the move to Grade 10. He was instrumental in making me realize the importance of considering science as a potential route I need to take as opposed to the general route I had initially convinced myself of taking. This gentleman was my Isizulu teacher in Grade 9 and his name is Mr Khehla Buthelezi. This gentleman was the ultimate pillar of my high school where discipline and order were concerned. You will always find him at the gate, ensuring that learners get inside the school premise on time and that they have proper school uniform on. I am proud to see him now as a principal at one of the new local schools.

Then, there were teachers who were always my go-to sources for inspiration and motivation when I was not feeling my best at school and saw the road ahead of me as rocky and blurry. These also the men and women who really believed in me and saw greatness when I did not believe in it. These teachers are the late Mr Mshengu Shabalalala, who was also a choir conductor, Mrs Masechaba Mhlongo, Ms Regina Baloyi and Mr Delihlazo. I remember how Mrs Mhlongo pulled strings for me to participate in a district competition where I delivered a poem, this was at Ibhongo Secondary School and this is also where I got to meet the late legendary poet, Mr Don Matera, an experience I still treasure to this day.

There were teachers in my schooling career who also saw me as someone who was thinking beyond my current level and grades and explored the abilities I may have to assist them. These teachers saw me as their source of information and reference when they had assignments to do and would consulte to assist here and then. This gave me incredible confidence to read more and to trust my own capabilities of climbing even higher where academics was concerned. They would even come back to me with their results as proof of how I’ve been able to assist them. I honour them as well for the vote of confidence and the skills that they helped me gain and harness through such an act.

Mathematics in all honesty, was never a strong area in my schooling. I however, pay special credits to four menz who’ve made incredible strides in helping measter the subject that I got to enjoy it as time went on. From primary school, the late Mr Nkosi and Mr Singo, were instrumental in setting up a firm foundation that was then taken over and refurbished by Mr Manana, he late Mr Mashile and Mr Mosikidi who taught me the subject from Grade 8 to matric. Mr Mashile would even come to school on the weekends to help us master a topic or to help us revise in time for exams, which went a long way in bridging the gap. These gentlemen made Matsh fun for me and helped me avoid seeing the intimidation that often clouded the subject. Mr Mosikidi played a crucial role in his efforts to help me succeed in my matric year, although I credit them all for it was a collective success and I am glad I made them proud when I got a distinction in Maths for my matric. It was for them. All of them.

Then to another subject that was a thorny one for me – my home language, IsiZulu. Lord knows how I struggled with the language from primary school and how difficult I found it. I often hoped that we could write a Zulu second language paper for matric, which I found to be a walk in the park but as for home language, now that was a different monster altogther. A number of teachers assisted me with the language and I also credit them for their conserted efforts in this milestone. The likes of Mr Mazibuko, Mr Majola, Mrs Inele, Mrs Nhlapo played a significant role in primary school while in high school Mr Buthelezi, Mr Shabalala and then Mrs Xiniwe, who was effectionately known to us as Ma’am Gambu. I have never obtained anything above 70% as a final mark for my home language, hence I thought a distinction there would be a mamoth task. I recall speaking to Mrs Xiniwe one day about this concern of mine amd how she easily laid my fears to rest, there and then.

She said, she’s got a good track record in the district for achieving A’s I’m the subject, which was evidence that she knows her stuff. And she said, she had the utmost faith in our group to achieve A’s and more. She was also revered at the district level for her track record, this I discovered when we went for some cultural competitions where other Isizulu teachers across the district would congregate. They had respect for her.

Her method was a straight forward one. She broke down the three papers for us and highlighter the key topics that each paper was testing and she systematically worked with us to identify gaps in those themes and how to close them. This was evident as soon as I saw the final papers in that exam hall, I could hear her words, tips and tricks as I wrote down all three papers. The lesson here is that, teachers know what is being tested in exam papers and with years, they get experience in how the subject is treated by examiners and the trick then is to work well with them in troubleshooting those areas and to focus your attention on those whole studying for exams.

I was proud of eventually getting an ‘A’ in my home language for my matric year. A victory I attribute to her and all the teachers that came before her.

I hope I may have sparked a light in you to look back and trace back those memories where our teachers played a pivotal role in our academic success. Thing may not have been perfect, but I am certain that there were some, who overlooked imperfections and lack of resources and all those hindrances to focus on the light at the end of each tunnel, which they easily saw but we couldn’t. The many men and women who believed in us and who did their best and delivered their best to us.

So, let’s take some time to remember those men and women who did their part and did it well for us in school. Those consistent words of encouragement, advice and how they would easily go beyond their normal calls of duty to see us succeed.

Those men and women who refused to be defined by their circumstances, refusing to allow the negative factors around their occupation to shape how they deliver the service they signed up for to us. How they always showed up, each day to ensure that the curriculum is taught and that learning objectives are met to the best of their ability.

The next time we see them, let’s remind them of their magic, beauty and awesomeness – and what it meant for us at that time and how their efforts have made us better individuals today. You will be surprised at how a long way, especially to their hearts, such can go.

May they never lose their spark and may God continue to shine His light upon their lives.

Happy World Teachers Day to all great teachers out there and to my teachers, each and every one of them.

We truly are the people we are today, because of all of them.