True story of Mandisa Mtolo the 'game changer'
Mandisa Mtolo is a well accomplished educator from deep in the rural areas of Eastern Cape province in South Africa. She comes from a small, impoverished village called Matatiele with high level of poverty and unemployment.
Mandisa's father and mother divorced in 1991, her mother left them at home with their father. Her father was working and left them with their 12-year-old cousin. Life was very difficult because her cousin had to fetch firewood for them to cook food, Mandisa and her little sister were left alone to try and eat something all day, while she was seven years old, her little sister was five years old. Their dad would come back every two weeks to see them. They grew up and succeeded in school because they were as smart as their father. Life started again to be very difficult when they passed matric. Those hardships however did not hamper her ambitions to become a contributor in the well-being of society and improving the future of other kids in her area. Her upbringing saw her go through various challenges which include trouble accessing other basic needs.
She once found 20 rand on the ground and used that money to buy flour from which she made fatcakes to sell at school. At university, she funded her own tuition fees by beading earrings and working from one job to another. She performed very good in her studies and was rewarded with a bursary which helped to propel her even further. She studied at the Durban University of Technology doing Commercial Educator course. In 2012 she graduated with an unprecedented five major subjects instead of the usual three. After graduating, she was placed by the Department of Education in a quintile 3 school, a grading which means the school is a ‘no-fee’ school situated in the rural area.
Growing up under difficult conditions did not stop her from working hard towards building a future brighter for her and her relatives. Mandisa is dedicated to giving rural children an opportunity to become contributors in the mainstream economy and well-being of society. It was very difficult to start from scratch in trying to achieve her goals, fortunately her idea was successful.
Mandisa has always been success driven, among her accolades she won the award of best tutor, Trophies for excelling in football, Athletics, Ballroom and Latin Dance at the university and she received many awards from different institutions: Global Education Summit (GESA), announced her as winner of prestigious award in the category: Outstanding Teacher of the year 2021. ASHBAB Global Impact Award, awarded her a Merit Award as Best Educator of The Year in 2021, MVLA Trust Global Achievers 2020 and in 2021 announced that Mandisa Mtolo is a winner of Global Teacher Hall of Fame Award, in 2021 during the International Women’s Day was announced as a MVLA International Ideal Woman Achiever Award 2021. Department of Education in Province awarded her a Certificate of Appreciation and acknowledgment in 2020 for winning an International Moot Court Competition. Department of Education in District awarded her a Trophy for Youth Development- Science and Technology and an Award for Top Performed Educator in Youth Development and Gender Equality, Acknowledgment of the excellence in 2017, 2019 and 2020. YCAP awarded a Certificate of Appreciation in 2013-2020 and Great Effort Award (Provincial Level) in 2014 and 2018, again in 2020 She and her team won an 3rd Place Overall Young Active Citizen Award in the National level. Her school awarded her a Certificate of Appreciation in 2015, 2019 and 2020. Department of Transport awarded a Certificate of Appreciation, Trophies and Gold Medals (District and Region) in 2014.
Through her dedication and workaholic skills, she has gone an extra mile to fulfil her goal.
She became a star, a global champion, learners received bursaries every year and the school was sponsored with laptops.
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