Educator opens learning centre for struggling rural pupils

An educator has turned an abandoned and dilapidated school building in a rural area in Limpopo into a centre offering extra lessons to matric pupils.

Phuti Phukubjwe, 25, from Masehlong in Moletjie, west of Polokwane, is the founder and CEO of Limpopo Tutoring Centre – a non-profit organisation (NPO) established in 2018 to provide after-school classes to pupils in grade 12.

The NPO which is based in GaRapitsi, also in Moletjie, operates from now defunct Bakwena Secondary which was shut down by provincial government because of low pupil occupancy.

The centre uses seven classrooms whose conditions are not ideal as the classrooms have broken doors. The chalkboards are also damaged while 25 of the single desks are worn out.

An educator has turned an abandoned and dilapidated school building in a rural areain Limpopo into a centre offering extra lessons to matric pupils.

Phuti Phukubjwe, 25, from Masehlong in Moletjie, west of Polokwane, is the founder and CEO of Limpopo Tutoring Centre – a non-profit organisation (NPO) established in 2018 to provide after-school classesto pupils in grade 12.

Phukubjwe said seeing how some matrics struggled with their subjects during the time he volunteered as a teacher in 2016 and 2017 prompted him to establish the centre.

The NPO operates from the now defunct Bakwena Secondary which was shut down by provincial government because of low pupil occupancy. The centre uses seven classrooms with broken doors. The chalkboards are also damaged, while 25 of the single desks are worn out.

Phukubjwe, who matriculated in 2015 at Modumela Secondary, teaches geography and life sciences at the centre. They also give lessons for mathematics, physical sciences, life sciences, geography, economics, accounting and business studies.

“I saw kids failing matric. They couldn’t even upgrade their results. As a result some of them would become frustrated and started smoking weed and working manual jobs. I was very saddened. The pain hit me hard,” he said.

“Some of those who passed matric could not be accepted at university for various reasons. They would stay at home and lose hope. I am now here to help them. There are kids out there who are good in mechanical work and not necessarily theory. We should guide them and help them to enrol at TVET [technical vocational and educational training] colleges].”

His centre consists of 10 staff members ranging from former matriculants, teachers and other volunteers from the area. They work from Mondays to Saturdays from 8am until 3pm.

They also offer extra lessons for pupils in grades 10, 11 and 12. Registration at the centre is R100 after learners pay R75 a month per subject.

The NPO also assists people prepare for matric rewrites, helps high school pupils with their university and TVET college applications, and provides Internet access to pupils who need to work on their school research projects.

Phukubjwe said along with his colleagues, they have visited 14 schools across villages in Moletjie to offer extra tutoring. 

“With little resources,  we have managed to help several schools improve their pass rate in some subjects. At Bakwena 2 Secondary School we helped the school achieve a 82% pass rate in life sciences in 2018. Nthema High School made a jump from a 59% geography pass rate in 2018 to 76% in 2019,” he said.

Phukubjwe has made a plea to the provincial education department to equip their facility with more resources.

“We have done well but we still need more assistance. We would like the department to recognise our service to the community and supply us with computers, a projector, photocopy machines and a seven-seater vehicle to transport our staff when they go and teach at other schools. I believe we can impact more pupils in this province,” he said.