WHEN Ms. Nobuhle Mpofana was asked by the parent of a neighbor’s child to help her with school work while the Covid-19 epidemic was still raging, she never thought that it would end up being a job she helped a lot of children with.
However, as time went on doing this work, which she started in 2021, Ms. Mpofana from Lindelani, Durban, ended up liking it more and seeing that it was useful to the children in her neighborhood, and eventually more parents trusted her to teach their children.
“I started by helping one child every time after school, until other parents noticed that, and asked me to open a center or center where other children in the area will benefit,” he said.
He said when he started this program openly, in 2021, he was teaching five children, as now it has grown to the point where he has 52 children doing Grade 4 to Grade 8 that he helps in their studies.
Due to the increase in students, who were coming to them, and in 2023 he continued to his local school, Mtapho Secondary, where he now works with three of his colleagues, including young people who have studied teaching but have not yet found a job.
“The bad thing I have noticed is that many children can’t read well, which makes it difficult to help them because they don’t understand what they are learning at all, which requires more programs like ours to help,” he said.
He said that in this program he charges only R150 per month for each student, he uses part of it to pay for the rent of the room he works in, to pay for the processing of teaching papers and other things needed to continue the day’s work.
Ms Mpofana, who also holds a teaching degree, said that although she continues to apply for the job she studied for, she also wishes that her work would continue for a long time and fully to help the children and reduce the burden on their teachers.