University of Cape Town VC wins maiden Africa education medal

The Vice-Chancellor, University of Cape Town, South Africa, Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, has emerged as the winner of the inaugural Africa Education Medal, launched this year by T4 Education and HP in collaboration with Intel and Microsoft.

The Africa education medal was founded to recognise the work of changemakers who are transforming African education.

Professor Phakeng was chosen as the winner, among 10 finalists that included two inspirational Nigerians: Chief Executive Officer of Teach For Nigeria, Folawe Omikunle, and the Founder and CEO of Comic Republic, Jide Martin.

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Phakeng who grew up in rural and township South Africa during apartheid became the first black female South African to achieve a PhD in Mathematics Education in 2002. In the two decades, she has published more than 80 research papers and five edited volumes that continued to shape mathematics education in classrooms across Africa and far beyond.

Her research focuses on language practices in multilingual mathematics classrooms and has proved influential in post-colonial Africa and post-Apartheid South Africa in particular.

And in addition, her academic and community work have won her many prestigious awards. These were: the Order of the Baobab (Silver) conferred on her by the President of South Africa in April 2016. She was named the most influential woman academic in Africa by CEO magazine in 2014, and in 2020 she was included in Forbes’ inaugural list of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Africa. This year she became the first African to be elected chair of the International Alliance of Research Universities, succeeding Professor Stephen J Toope, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge.

Congratulating the winner of the maiden Africa education medal, VP and Managing Director, HP Africa, Brad Pulford, stated that: “Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng’s drive and leadership in transforming education across Africa and beyond stand as a shining example to others all over the continent.

“We at HP can only echo her passion for empowering learners. From a business community perspective, we have a bold goal to enable better learning outcomes for 100 million people by 2025. Only by joining forces between NGOs, government, educators and businesses we can make bold moves towards improving the education environment. A quality education empowers not just individuals, but entire communities. It will skill the next generation to fulfil their full potential in a world being transformed by technology.”Pulford reiterated.

On his part, Founder and CEO of T4 Education, Vikas Pota noted that quality education will help African countries grow and prosper. He added that it will help Africa produce the public leaders of tomorrow who will go on to grapple with the continent’s greatest challenges from inequality, to climate change, food insecurity and disease.

To the winner of the Africa education medal, Pota said:” Congratulations to Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, a great example of someone working every day to make that access to quality education a reality. I have no doubt leaders from across Africa will be inspired to follow in her footsteps.” He explained. l

Expressing delight over her award, Professor Phakeng said: “It is the greatest honour to be recognised for my life’s passion. Quality education is the key to Africa’s future and I’m so grateful to HP, Intel and Microsoft for this award that I hope will inspire others across our continent to further the cause of African education.”VC University of Cape Town advised.

Nominations for the Africa Education Medal opened in April 2022 for individuals working to improve pre-kindergarten, K-12, vocational and university education who are either educators, school administrators, civil society leaders, public servants, government officials, political leaders, technologists, or innovators.