Retired principal shines on with PHD degree

At 68, retired high school principal Alui Tshigabe has fulfilled a lifelong dream by obtaining a PhD, a qualification he always felt he needed to get.

Tshigabe, who hails from the rural village of Maname in Nzhelele, Limpopo, retired in 2019 after decades in the education sector.

After taking a four-year break, he enrolled for a PhD at the University of Venda, focusing his research on his doctoral thesis, The Implementation of South African Government Language Policy in Public Institutions: A Case Study of Siloam Hospital.

His doctorate was conferred on him on Friday.

“I retired, but I did not feel fulfilled. I wanted to complete school, and I could only do so by going for a PhD. I didn’t do it to get a job,” he told Sowetan.

Over his long career, Tshigabe was a principal at Nnditsheni Secondary (April 1996-December 1997), Mulenga Secondary (January 1998-February 2011), and Mphephu High (March 2011-April 2019).

He began his PhD in April 2023 and completed it in just 26 months, a feat many doubted he could achieve in such a short time. 

“So many people told me it would take four years but I finished in 26 months,” he said.

But it wasn’t easy, he said, and recalled how, from the very first meeting, his supervisors told him he was too old and unlikely to finish.

Their doubts meant he could not be considered for a bursary, which forced him to fund his own studies.

“I was pushed to the limit by my supervisors. There were times I was emotional and I would even cry,” he said.

“They told me from the word go that they didn’t think I would finish. I was not doing the things they wanted, so I worked harder and took it seriously. They [supervisors] never compromised. They were younger than me but they wanted quality, they wanted me to do the right thing,” he said.

Now that he has earned his PhD, he said he is fulfilled.

“But I will not stop studying. You can have your certificate and have a job, and say that you are fine, but you won’t know the new trends.

They told me from the word go that they didn’t think I would finish. I was not doing the things they wanted, so I worked harder and took it seriously. They [supervisors] never compromised. 

—  Alui Tshigabe 

“Change will never stop happening, and where does it happen? In the books. You become irrelevant if you do not go on learning. If you want to do your job well, then you should go and learn.”

Tshigabe said he has always believed in the value of education.

After he graduated from the University of Limpopo in 1983, he worked as a teacher at Mulenga Secondary for a year, where he was the only teacher with a degree.

“It was a mammoth task because when you encourage children to go to university, it was like you were boasting,” he said.

Tshigabe asked the education department to move him to another school, and he was given a position at the Makhado College of Education. 

“Qualifications were very rare at the time, and I was earning R670 per month with a degree. This was in 1985.” 

But while lecturing at the college, he applied for a job at a junior secondary, where he was the only applicant. He was employed as the principal.

“It was an opportunity to grow, and to earn more money to further my studies with ease because I was doing my honours without any bursaries.”

He then taught at other schools until his retirement.

Reflecting on the challenges when he was a principal at one of the schools, Tshigabe said some of the pupils’ parents were not educated, while some worked in Gauteng, which meant that they could not assist with homework.

“This meant you could not just tell a child to go and write homework at home because their parents lived far. Teachers were scarce. You pass matric, we employ you as a private teacher, even if you had never been to college. Resources were very scarce, but we had to make do with what we had. We were never dysfunctional,” he said.

Tshigabe said he was now focused on writing articles for the university, focusing on his research topic. 

He is also working on a book on wildlife at the Kruger National Park.

“The book will focus on the behaviour of animals. You find that in the Kruger National Park of late, animals are killing people because people don’t know how they [animals] behave,” he said.

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