This year, the Department of Basic Education’s theme for the occasion is: ‘Teachers: Leading in crisis, re-imagining the future’.
FILE: Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga. Picture: Kayleen Morgan/EWN
JOHANNESBURG – Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga on Monday said described teachers as national treasures.
Motshekga celebrated World Teacher’s Day at the Mamelodi Teachers’ Centre in Pretoria.
This year, the Department of Basic Education’s theme for the occasion is: ‘Teachers: Leading in crisis, re-imagining the future’.
Motshekga paid tribute to teachers and school staff who died from the coronavirus.
“Our teachers have worked tirelessly during the most uncertain period in our history as we battle the COVID-19 pandemic. And for that, we also continue to express our gratitude and appreciation. Indeed, some of our teachers did succumb to the virus,” Motshekga said.
The minister urged people to continue to be cautious.
“We convene today amid hope raising from the horizon, which is clear that South Africa working together with the international community faced the storm and we believe that we are beyond the peak. Though we don’t want to really become complacent and say COVID-19 has left us,” she added.
Motshekga said the fight against COVID-19 was not over.
“So, as the head of the World Health Organisation has stressed, we have to do everything in our power to prevent the resurgence of this deadly pandemic. We have to realise that as a society we must learn to co-exist with the virus.”
