A passionate teacher from Magangeni Primary School in Malamulele, Florence Bekwa, won an excellence award during the 20th annual teaching-award ceremony held at the Ranch Hotel near Polokwane.
Those who know Bekwa were not surprised when she was announced as winner in her category. Speaking to Limpopo Mirror, Bekwa said that she was excited about the accolade. "It is a dream come true to scoop this award, and I dedicate this award to my learners. I would like to thank God, my learners and colleagues who are always supportive and make my job easy. I want to develop our community by producing the best learners who will be the doctors, lawyers and engineers of tomorrow," Bekwa said.
Magangeni Primary School's principal, Mr Lucky Mashamba, was very excited about his teacher's achievements. "We feel very excited about her winning, because it puts our school in the limelight. Ours is the only school in the Vhembe East district circuit with a teacher who will represent us at national level. It is really a milestone for our school."
Mashamba encouraged other educators to participate in the national teaching awards. "All the schools must participate in the national teaching awards because, as an educator, you don't know how much you are worth until you are measured against other educators. We have the best educators, but they are not participating," Mashamba said.