Inside the life of a South African prison educator: overcoming challenges to inspire change
Curiosity and the desire to rehabilitate offenders by helping them make the right choices in life are among the reasons that lured educators to branch from normal schools to prison facilities.
Common among these teachers is the passion for what they do, also mentioning that when you teach in prison, you become a teacher and a parent at the same time. Lack of focus, absenteeism, and rude pupils are not challenges in schools under the Department of Correctional Services (DCS).
Khayelihle Radebe, principal of Sicebengolwazi Secondary which is part of the Estcourt Correctional Centre, KwaZulu-Natal, said teaching in a correctional facility is for people who want to make an impact.
“In this environment, we empower inmates to avoid bad behaviour and assist them in making positive choices. We want them to know what they want to do, to be supported and be able to make positive choices,” Radebe said.
Her school achieved a 100% pass rate, and she teaches business studies and economics.
“Our learner, Nsebenzo Nkomo, obtained four distinctions and became number two nationally. He was among the top achievers recognised during the provincial awards of the Class of 2024 National Senior Certificate top achievers. He could not go on stage for security reasons, so I received the award and gifts including a laptop, on his behalf,” Radebe said.
In 2022, the school had 18 pupils and achieved 11 Bachelor passes and seven diplomas. In 2023, they had 10 pupils and obtained eight Bachelor passes, and two diplomas. For the Class of 2024, there were 17 pupils - 16 attained Bachelor passes and one diploma.
She has no regret about leaving the Department of Basic Education for DCS.
Among the challenges at her school, is the shortage of educators and they had to put in extra hours to get good results.
“There are only five teachers including the principal. Educators teach more than one subject in matric. We have to ask our previous matriculants to support us and become tutors. They are now third-year university students. In total, we had 10 tutors divided into three levels - Grade 10, 11 and 12.
“We do get support from the management at all levels, but due to financial constraints, the school cannot hire teachers,” she said.
To ensure their pupils are ready for exams, she said they set private exams using previous question papers to determine each pupil’s level of understanding. They also have extra classes.
Phumzile Gumede, a teacher at uSethubeni School at Durban Westville Correctional Centre, joined the facility in 2016 as a casual employee and became permanent in 2019.
She said they are running a normal school, which comply with all requirements and policies of the Department of Basic Education, and senior managers from DCS also monitor their work.
“It is a very quiet and safe environment. You don’t have a situation of absenteeism. If there is a problem with a pupil, whether they are seeing a psychologist, going to court, or ill, we are informed well on time about their whereabouts,” Gumede said.
Her switch from public schools to DCS came out of curiosity.
“As teachers, out of passion, we teach up until 6pm, because most of our pupils have been away from school for a very long time. We now call this a correctional centre, where we rehabilitate them. We motivate them a lot, we award them with gifts – top 10, etc.
“Learners are always willing to raise the bar and there is cooperation. The good thing is that the employer recognises the efforts we put into achieving the good result,” Gumede.
She added that the only time they see pupils losing interest in studies is when they hear of a death in their families.
“Others have been rejected by their families, have no visitors, and end up lacking necessities like roll-ons, etc. So, for those we ask for donations to help them,” she said.
She added that anyone aged 35 and below is not allowed to sit in jail and do nothing. Everyone is compelled to do something, either matric or skills training.
“I’m always looking forward to seeing my learners, sometimes we even forfeit leave days because we want to see our learners,” she said.
Gumede said that sometimes there is a clash between security and education, and when prison warders take leave, there is usually a shortage of people to accompany students to school. On Saturday, classes run until 12 midday to allow pupils to see their visitors.
To educators who want to join DCS, she said: “You can’t teach at a correctional services facility if you are lazy. You must have a passion. We are a team of 18 teachers and we all do our jobs. People who frequently take leave cannot survive. We start at 7am. We don’t come late and we submit our reports on time. If we have a problem, we communicate and we show each other respect.”
Meanwhile, the national commissioner of Correctional Services, Makgothi Samuel Thobakgale, visited uSethubeni School at Durban Westville Correctional Centre on Tuesday, to convey his congratulations to the school’s matric Class of 2024 for their outstanding results and to assess the school’s readiness for the 2025 academic year.
The school achieved a 100% pass rate for the ninth consecutive year in 2024.
gcwalisile.khanyile@inl.co.za