A teacher at Thasululo Learning Centre, Joyce Masakona (35), dominated the Department of Education’s Dzindi Circuit Awards last Thursday.

She received recognition when it was announced that she was the best Tshivenda Teacher, after she had produced seven distinctions during the 2006 Grade-12 final examinations. She went home with a special certificate for the fruits of her hard labour. Since she started teaching in 2003, Joyce has been producing a 100% pass rate in Tshivenda each year, teaching both grammar and literature.

In an interview shortly after the function, Joyce said the secret behind her success was hard work, team work, networking and proper time management. "I never procrastinate and I make friends with people whom I know I will learn from. I also go to other schools to learn how they work, so that I can also use the knowledge to benefit my learners," said the highly excited Joyce.

Joyce says she also gives her learners extra lessons after school and on Saturdays. "I give my learners class work and home work on a daily basis and also make sure that I complete the syllabus at the end of May each year. From June, I am only busy with revision and treatment of previous examination papers. When the examinations come, I know that my learners will be ready and only waiting to write, hence the acquisition of top results."

She continued and told Mirror about another secret: "I also make sure that I become accessible to the learners and make friends with them. This helps them to ask questions without fear and it leads to the smooth running of the lessons."

She says there are different stakeholders who contributed to her success. "I will never forget to thank the school’s leadership, parents, fellow educators and learners because I wouldn’t have achieved this on my own."