Bushbuckridge - When Lindiwe Khoza decided to study teaching, she did not want to become just an ordinary teacher. Instead, she wanted an advanced certificate in inclusive education that enables her to teach children with special needs.
"I fell in love with teaching pupils with special needs when my practicals led me to such schools to learn about working with disabled pupils," said Khoza, who teaches at Mpithi Inclusive Primary School in Section B of Thulamahashe, near Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga.
She made a point of going house to house and attending community meetings to encourage parents of intellectually challenged children to enrol them in the school. She explained the benefits and said they would be able to learn computer skills and handiwork such as wood- and craftwork.
"Many of the parents were keeping their children in their houses, not realising that there were opportunities for them to learn," she said, adding that one of her pupils could fix electric kettles and cell phones and was now enrolled at a mainstream high school.
"Working with learners of this nature needs love," she explained. "It doesn't need people who just want to get paid. You need to have a calling for this, said Khoza, who always keeps in touch with her former pupils and visits them at their new schools to check their progress. She even wears clothing made by her sewing pupils.
Khoza regularly holds workshops with teachers, with the support of an official from Disabled People South Africa called Ace Mathonsi, who lives in the area.
"I have a team of five teachers and with Mathonsi's help, we have managed to teach the pupils to create wonders and do things that make their parents proud," said Khoza.
Mathonsi said he was thrilled when Khoza invited him to help her at the school. "I was very happy. It made me realise that there were people who really cared for the disabled," she said.
Khoza will be representing Mpumalanga at the 2010 National Teaching Awards after winning the provincial leg of the competition.
She said that if she won the national prize, she would use the money to build ramps at the school. "We don't have enough ramps for children who are in wheelchairs, so they struggle to get to class," she explained.
The teacher added that the school needed more sewing materials.
"We also need more computers and we don't have a library. So, if I win, I can try to make the situation better at the school," said Khoza.
The date for the national competition has not been announced.
