When parents send their children to school, they expect teachers to act as parents, and an example of those teachers still exists at Tiyani Secondary School at Magorho.

Nyikiwa Rikhotso from Tiyani Village at Magorho is a Grade 12 English first additional language teacher at Tiyani Secondary School. He was nominated at the national teaching awards as a provincial finalist three years in a row, from 2006 to 2008.

Rikhotso started teaching in 1998 in Gauteng, until he was appointed in his home town at Tiyani Secondary School. Since his appointment “at home,” all his Grade 12 pupiles have passed every year.

He was nominated this year by learners as a teacher who made a difference into their lives and he attended the international teachers’ day in Durban on October 5.

He added that the school can produce goods results, irrespective of the challenges that they meet every day - like the difficult conditions of having 647 learners, but only eight classrooms and the lack of a staff room for the 25 teachers. He said that the school even converted the girls’ toilets to be a staff room.

Rikhotso urged teachers to know their learners and to motivate them by sharing the little knowledge they have as it can a make a difference, even if the work takes place under difficult conditions.