Young man has a passion greater than his disorder

A 21-year-old has compiled study guides for learners, despite having Myasthenia Gravis. MG is a neuromuscular disorder that weakens the skeletal muscles.

Kgotso Moroenyane is determined and has written and published mathematics study guides for grades 7 to 9.
This young man from Ikageng is passionate about education. Even after he was diagnosed in 2018, his love for teaching was stronger than the disorder.

After Kgotso matriculated at Botoka Technical High, he studied Actuarial Science. He later changed courses as he was more passionate about teaching, especially in the field of mathematics. “I would love to see this generation falling in love with mathematics and obtaining good marks,” he said.

Teaching has been a part of him since grade 10. Kgotso says he used to help teach learners in the lower grades.
He is currently an education student at North-West University.

Kgotso is also a tutor for mathematics, natural sciences and physical sciences. He is also the head of tutors at the Ikamva Youth Ikageng branch.
Even during the national lockdown, he has been tutoring learners via WhatsApp.

He enjoys, solving and creating mathematical problems.

The idea of creating study guides developed while he was tutoring. He noticed that having to make new notes for the learners was time- consuming, so he combined his notes and created a study guide. He decided to call it Palotota, which in Setswana means “real mathematics”. The contents of the book are in English, however.

Before he could start his first book, Kgotso was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis. He spent most of his time indoors for about seven months. The symptoms had taken a toll on his body, particularly his muscles. He went to several doctors and lost hope as his condition worsened. He struggled to teach as his speech was affected; he had difficulties, eating, swallowing, and walking. His sight was also affected. “I used to walk by leaning on my friend; I couldn’t even walk up a flight of stairs. I was weak,” he said.

Eventually, he was admitted to the Chris Hani Baragwanath hospital and received treatment.

During that period, he compiled his first study guide for grade 8 learners, an examination tool book. The tool book was published in 2019 and he tested it at Botoka Technical High school, where it received favourable feedback.

Nthabiseng Nkomozabo, a grade 8 teacher at Botoka Technical High school, has been using Kgotso’s study guide for her learners since last year. She says it is user-friendly. “They (learners) like it. They enjoy using it because it’s all-in-one; formulas, questions, examples and answers,” said Nkomozabo.

Kgotso gradually started working on the grade 9 study guide and it was published earlier this year.

With the national lockdown, Kgotso found a lot of time and worked on his grade 7 workbook, which was also published recently.
He uses the ATP (Annual Teaching Plan) and CAPS (Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement) as guidelines but he creates the content, methods and steps.

As Bill Cosby once said, anyone can dabble, but once you’ve made that commitment, your blood has that particular thing in it and it’s very hard for people to stop you. In Kgotso’s case, his disorder couldn’t stop him from developing young minds. It did not have the power to drive him away from his passion for education.