Top teacher: State of SA education system not a reflection of all teachers
A Cape Town principal, who's been listed as one of the top fifty teachers in the world, says while South Africa's education system doesn't look good, teachers are working very hard.
Wendy Horn from the Protea Heights Academy in Brackenfell is one of two South Africans hoping to win this year's Global Teacher of the Year Award.
The main prize is a whopping 13.5 million rand and the winner will be announced in March.
Earlier this month an international literacy study revealed that a shocking 78 percent of Grade Four pupils in South Africa don't understand what they're reading.
ALSO READ: 'Our education system is extremely inefficient'
Horn admits the country's education looks bleak.
"Education in South Africa is not good, but I don't think it is necessarily a reflection of what is happening with teacher," Horn said.
Horn says teachers will get it right, one step at a time.
"I can see it in my own school. I can see it in less advantaged schools, teachers in general are giving their heart and soul, and their money and their time to teach kids," she says.
She adds that it does however feel that everything that they need to do sometimes feels overwhelming.