Fourteen teachers, including Siddieka Hassen, principal of Capricorn Primary School in Vrygrond, were honoured at this year’s Western Cape Provincial Teaching Awards on Friday 1 September.
Principal of the school since 2008, Hassen walked away with the provincial Kader Asmal Lifetime Achievement Award.
In a statement, Western Cape Minister of Education David Maynier congratulated all the winners and commended their passion for improving learning.
“These awards give us the opportunity to celebrate the incredible work teachers at our public schools do every day and recognise excellent teaching practice,” he said.
“Our teachers are our most valuable asset and we appreciate their love, care and support for our children every day.”
Meanwhile, People’s Post caught up with Hassen, who has been a teacher for many years.
“I have been in education for 42 years and this is the second school I’ve been at,” she said.
Hassen started out as a novice teacher at Square Hill Primary School in Retreat and rose through the ranks to head of department and later deputy principal.
“In 2008, I was head-hunted and brought across to head a preparatory school.
“Capricorn Primary was built by the Vrygrond Community Development Trust and, at the time, the education department did not have funding to build a pre-school, so learners who progressed from nursery schools would have to navigate the busy highway [M5] to attend the closest school.
“A few children were knocked down in the road and lost their lives.”
Hassen further explained that the school, initially aimed at housing only Grade R and Grade 1 learners, turned out to be a preparatory school.
“The school had Grade R to 3 and the caretaker principal, Mr Ridwan Samodien, who had just retired from Kannemeyer Primary School in Grassy Park, could stay here only for a while because he needed to go back to his school.
“When I came here for the first time my first impression was that it was such a lovely setting, but the kids were so needy. I had the first assembly with them and they were snotty-nosed and had no shoes, and my heart just dropped.
“I couldn’t see myself going back to Square Hill Primary, because somehow this community just tugged at my heartstrings and I ended up staying and becoming the first principal in 2008.”
In mid-2008, Hassen was faced with the dilemma of not having space for Grade 4s, so she applied for extension of curriculum.
“I had to apply so that the learners could progress to Grade 7.
By 2012 we had our first Grade 7 learners and by then we were a fully-fledged school.”
The passionate teacher dedicated her award to all teachers who make a difference in the life of a child.
“I feel that Capricorn is a beacon of hope in a forgotten community because the only way people get to be recognised is when they protest. But nobody comes in here to support them and these kids are so gifted.”
