Chronicle EditorThandeka Moyo-Ndlovu, Senior Reporter
EVELINE High School teacher, Mr Jobert Ngwenya, is the 2022 Accountability Lab Integrity Icon Award winner.
Mr Ngwenya has been honoured for his outstanding work in fusing entrepreneurship with education thereby economically empowering the girls.
The global Integrity Icon Award ‘names and fames’ public servants who display exemplary integrity and make heroes out of ordinary people doing the right thing.
Mr Ngwenya traces back his love for economic emancipation to 2004 when he was doing his ‘A’ Level at Sizane High School in Pelandaba, which saw him joining Junior Achievement Zimbabwe.
Junior Achievement is the world’s largest growing organisation dedicated to educating young people about business, economics and free enterprise.
Although he grew up aspiring to be a social worker, Mr Ngwenya who teaches History and Economics, has achieved a 100 percent pass rate between 2012 and 2019 and attributes his success as a teacher to his strong personal values.
Under his guidance, Eveline High School relaunched its entrepreneurial education and financial literacy programme with Junior Achievement Zimbabwe in September 2016, achieving impressive results.
Mr Ngwenya’s pupils won the National Company of the Year Prize in 2019 and 2021.
Eveline High has since 2017 been participating in the School Enterprise Challenge and in 2017 it won the Best Business Idea Award, in 2018 it walked away with Best Digital Business Award and in 2020 it won a student Enterprise Adventure Prize.
In an interview after being presented with his award on Friday night, Mr Ngwenya said he was humbled by the support received so far and that indeed his work had impacted many lives.
“I couldn’t have done this without the incredible support from family, friends, learners and fellow teachers. This award is a testament to the values we should all hold dear as we work every day to promote integrity, honesty and accountability. It is truly an honour to be recognised among other great Integrity Icons in this way. I am so grateful for your support and for reflecting your shine to name and fame me,” said Mr Ngwenya.
“I want to extend my deepest thanks to every one of you for taking the time to vote and for spreading the word about this important initiative. Your passion and commitment to our shared mission are truly inspiring and I feel incredibly fortunate to have such amazing support ahead and behind me. Above all, who can be against us if God is on our side?”
A holder of a Masters Degree in Development Studies, Mr Ngwenya is also the founder of Fundi Trust, a non-profit organisation that offers entrepreneurship and financial literacy skills.
“The trust is also running an excellence scholarship for disadvantaged primary school learners in Matabeleland South and the peri-urban areas of Bulawayo Metropolitan province. I am an author with an Advanced Level textbook on Economics and also an A-level History textbook,” he said.
An ardent speaker on entrepreneurship education, Mr Ngwenya was one of the speakers during the World Education Week in October 2021.
“I recently participated in the Fulbright Teaching Excellence and Achievement Programme at Claremont Graduate University in the United States of America,” he said.
Besides his work in entrepreneurship, Mr Ngwenya also received the National Geographic Covid-19 Remote Learning Emergency Fund for Educators which he used to establish ilifalethu.co.zw.
He is also the entrepreneurship educator at the school working under the auspices of Teach A Man to Fish’s School Enterprise Challenge programme.
“Under my tutelage, Eveline High School relaunched the entrepreneurial education and financial literacy programme with Junior Achievement Zimbabwe in September 2016. My impact grew and I helped my pupils win the National Company of the Year Prize in 2019 and 2021. The school has also been participating in the School Enterprise Challenge with Teach a Man to Fish charity winning the Best Business Idea Award in 2017, Best Digital Business Award in 2018 and a student Enterprise Adventure Prize in 2020,” he said.
Mr Ngwenya was also nominated for the Bulawayo Arts Awards under the Outstanding Arts Educator Category owing to his work with pupils in starting a digital teen magazine, an innovation that also earned him a spot in the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme in 2019.
“Infusing entrepreneurship education with Challenge Based Learning, I hone 21st century core skills among pupils who have come up with different projects that focus on quality education, food and nutrition security and media literacy. My pupils at Eveline High School have embarked on various ventures in food and nutrition security such as a chicken project, hydroponic system and healthy energy bar for teens,” he said.
Mr Ngwenya said he has also been a facilitator and mentor for the Junior Achievement out-of-school youths programme since April 2020.
His pupils at Eveline High are working on producing the first-ever cookbook on indigenous foods.
Titled “Roots Beneath”, the first volume will be published in IsiNdebele, Tonga, Nambya, Kalanga and ChiShona.
The book will cover the main food types of each culture with all recipes having an English translation.
Mr Ngwenya inspired the ‘A’ Level pupils to produce the book set to curb acculturation in food heritage, which is in line with Sustainable Development Goals on health and well-being, nutrition and quality education.
He is studying towards a Master of Arts in Education (Learning, Education and Technology) at the University of Oulu, Finland. – @thamamoe
Online Reporter