Meet Andrew Pokana a teacher at Bonanamo Village, Rigo District, Central Province.
Mr. Pokana started teaching in 2020, straight after he graduated with a Diploma in Primary Education at Balob Teachers College in 2019. Before he was selected to Balob, he completed secondary education at Kwikila Secondary School in 2016.
“I chose the path that I'm currently taking now because I wanted to give back to my community, district, province and the country as a whole. Giving back in a way of molding this young generation at the Primary School level to become good citizens of our country. And with my dad being a teacher, motivated me to do so,” he said.
This would be three years of Mr. Pokana’s teaching and through his experience he feels like there is still more to do in his line of work.
“One of the greatest things that I've achieved within this 3 years was sending a good number of grade eight students to high school last year. That was really a blessing to me and my colleagues here at Bonanamo Primary School,” he said proudly.
Through his teaching experience, Mr. Pokana says they face challenges in lack of basic curriculum materials for students and run down classrooms that are not conducive for both students and teachers.
“I've been to the edge of giving up at times but then I always think of my students. Yes, it has been tough but through God as our captain we shall conquer.”