‘We can only break the poverty cycle through education’ For Rodney Naidoo, a teacher in the UNESCO Learning City of Durban, helping the most vulnerable students is more than a career, it’s a birthright.
Education is key
When teacher Rodney Naidoo was little, his grandfather said, ‘Education is key for you. It is important to break the poverty cycle.’
His grandfather had migrated from India to Durban in eastern South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province to earn money for his family by working in the sugarcane fields; he never finished high school.
Nevertheless, every month he would donate a part of his salary to the building of Natest Primary School– the school Naidoo is a teacher at today – to enable future young people to learn.
His grandfather had migrated from India to Durban in eastern South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province to earn money for his family by working in the sugarcane fields; he never finished high school.
Nevertheless, every month he would donate a part of his salary to the building of Natest Primary School– the school Naidoo is a teacher at today – to enable future young people to learn.
Change of plans
It was never Naidoo’s plan to go into teaching – he had enrolled in a bachelor of science programme for microbiology – but when the religious organization he was part of at the time needed someone to support students who could not afford tuition in the sciences, he immediately offered to help.
Rodney Naidoo
'While tutoring these learners, these Grade 12 learners, and being maybe two or three years older than them, I could relate to them; I realized that I possibly registered to do the wrong thing, the wrong field. Because it just came naturally to me, to impart knowledge that I’ve gained, but I did not have the skills or the practical knowledge to teach. After a year, I realized that, I think I need to get into teaching, and I spoke to my parents and I said that this is a passion that I have and definitely, once I got into it, I got hooked, basically, and I haven’t turned back.’
Building a democracy
At the time when Rodney started teaching in 2000, South Africa was still a young democracy. ‘Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world,’ underlined then-president Nelson Mandela, the first South African president to have been elected in a fully representative democratic election.
Rodney Naidoo
'The timing was perfect for me to branch into education, to mould our younger generation so that they should not see colour. I knew there was an opportunity for me to groom the youngsters of South Africa.'
Joining Natest Primary School
After teaching maths at a high school for several years, Naidoo signed up as a teacher at Natest Primary School, one of the over 570 schools in the UNESCO Learning City of Durban, where lifelong learning is top of the agenda. It is also the school his grandfather once helped build though his donations.
An estimated 80 per cent of the 600 students that attend Durban’s primary schools come from rural areas, most of them from disadvantaged homes, with less than 34 percent of parents paying school fees.
These challenges provide Naidoo and his colleagues with additional motivation to ensure that learners are equipped with the necessary tools, knowledge, skills and attitudes that will enable them to achieve their fullest potential and make a positive impact, both personally and within their communities.
An estimated 80 per cent of the 600 students that attend Durban’s primary schools come from rural areas, most of them from disadvantaged homes, with less than 34 percent of parents paying school fees.
These challenges provide Naidoo and his colleagues with additional motivation to ensure that learners are equipped with the necessary tools, knowledge, skills and attitudes that will enable them to achieve their fullest potential and make a positive impact, both personally and within their communities.
Rodney Naidoo
'And even the 20% who come from the surrounding areas, are coming from poor homes. Our aim is to break that cycle of poverty and it can only be done through education. So, they can provide a better life for their family as well. So not only do we instill with them the curriculum but also the confidence, and we realize that confidence is the number one tool that any child requires.'
Extra support before school hours
To support students who are struggling, Naidoo and his colleagues have developed a programme that provides extra tuition in maths, English and Zulu, which is the mother tongue of many people in KwaZulu-Natal province. These tutoring sessions take place in the mornings before normal school hours.
Naidoo wants to inspire his students to excel in maths in particular, which he sees as essential for success not only in South Africa but internationally.
Naidoo wants to inspire his students to excel in maths in particular, which he sees as essential for success not only in South Africa but internationally.
Rodney Naidoo
'Most of those households are led by grandparents. Most of our learners, their biological parents leave them with their grandparents and they seek employment elsewhere and we find that our grandparents are not always academically inclined. They have little support at home, and not the fault of the learner or the grandparent or the parent, sometimes. But that’s just the situation that they are in.'
Working with the families
To address this challenge, Naidoo and his colleagues have created WhatsApp groups for families to ensure students receive the support they need when completing homework and studying for exams. Even during after-school hours, Naidoo is happy to answer messages from students and their parents or grandparents in order to help with homework exercises.
Going the extra mile for his students
Having seen many students drop out over the years, Naidoo and the team from Natest Primary School now have one overarching goal: to ensure that every learner completes Grade 12.
As part of a programme for disadvantaged students in Grade 12, Naidoo and further teachers used to travel to rural and remote areas during school holidays to provide learners with extra tuition before their final exams. They did this without remuneration until the programme was suspended when COVID-19 hit the country.
Until then, they had helped an estimated 800 learners in this way; additional volunteers having provided lunch for the students during this time. Feedback has shown that this additional help has had a positive effect on exam results.
As part of a programme for disadvantaged students in Grade 12, Naidoo and further teachers used to travel to rural and remote areas during school holidays to provide learners with extra tuition before their final exams. They did this without remuneration until the programme was suspended when COVID-19 hit the country.
Until then, they had helped an estimated 800 learners in this way; additional volunteers having provided lunch for the students during this time. Feedback has shown that this additional help has had a positive effect on exam results.
Transforming lives through education
The vision, hopes, dreams and aspirations of the sugarcane field workers who once contributed a fraction of their meagre earnings to the building of Natest Primary School provides Naidoo and his colleagues with a daily reminder of the sacrifices that their forebears made to grant subsequent generations with the ‘powerful weapon of education’.
It is by harnessing this power that teachers around the world can improve the livelihoods of the world’s most vulnerable communities.
It is by harnessing this power that teachers around the world can improve the livelihoods of the world’s most vulnerable communities.
Rodney Naidoo
'When you teach the less fortunate and you see them excel beyond expectation against all odds, that is the most rewarding part of this profession. It makes you want to come back every day. It makes you want to give back every day.'
UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities
Durban joined the UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities (GNLC) in 2022.
The GNLC is an international policy-oriented network providing inspiration, know-how and best practice. The network’s mission is to support and accelerate the practice of lifelong learning in the world’s communities by promoting policy dialogue and peer learning among member cities, forging links, fostering partnerships, building capacities and developing instruments to encourage and recognize progress in building learning cities.
Learn more
The GNLC is an international policy-oriented network providing inspiration, know-how and best practice. The network’s mission is to support and accelerate the practice of lifelong learning in the world’s communities by promoting policy dialogue and peer learning among member cities, forging links, fostering partnerships, building capacities and developing instruments to encourage and recognize progress in building learning cities.
Learn more
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‘We can only break the poverty cycle through education’
Education is key
Change of plans
Rodney Naidoo
Building a democracy
Rodney Naidoo
Joining Natest Primary School
Rodney Naidoo
Extra support before school hours
Rodney Naidoo
Going the extra mile for his students
Transforming lives through education
Rodney Naidoo
UNESCO Global Network of Learning Cities