New award launched this year by T4 Education in collaboration with HP and Intel to be given to an outstanding individual who has demonstrated impact, leadership, and advocacy in the field of African education.
Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, has been named a Top 10 finalist for the new Africa Education Medal, launched this year by T4 Education in collaboration with HP and Intel. Professor Phakeng joins nine other outstanding individuals from across Africa including H.E. Jakaya Kikwete, former President of Tanzania and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Global Partnership for Education.
The Africa Education Medal was founded to recognise the tireless work of those who are transforming education across the continent – to celebrate the stories of those who have lit the spark of change so others will be inspired to take up the torch.
Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng is Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and among the world’s leading scholars in mathematics education. Growing up in rural and township South Africa during Apartheid, she became the first black female South African to achieve a PhD in Mathematics Education in 2002 and she is determined not to be the last. In the two decades since she has published more than 80 research papers and five edited volumes that continue 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.
Her research and community work have won her many prestigious awards, not least 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.
Professor Phakeng has shown exemplary leadership in her field, with her research illuminating how learners and parents are positioned in and by the power of English. Her work explores practices in mathematics learning that harness learners’ spoken languages while developing their mathematical English. This innovative work has highlighted those typically disadvantaged by their multilingualism in an English-dominant society and it has embraced the power of languages in learning.
Brad Pulford, Managing Director at HP Africa, said:
“Congratulations to Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng on being named a Top 10 finalist for the Africa Education Medal. In honouring her tireless work to improve education, I hope many others will be inspired to follow her outstanding example as leaders in the field.
“HP has been committed to enabling better learning outcomes for 100 million people by 2025. Achieving this bold goal wouldn’t be possible without empowered education leaders and trailblazers who are at the forefront of the rapidly changing 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.”
The Top 10 finalists for the Africa Education Medal are:
- H.E. Jakaya Kikwete, former President of Tanzania and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Global Partnership for Education
- Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, South Africa
- Basuti Bolo, Founder and CEO of GoToSpace, in Botswana
- Cyrille Nkontchou, Founder and Chairman of Enko Education, in Ivory Coast
- Felix Malombe, Executive Director of STEAM Labs Africa, in Kenya
- John Mugo, Executive Director of Zizi Afrique Foundation, in Kenya
- Folawe Omikunle, Chief Executive Officer of Teach For Nigeria
- Jide Martin, Founder and CEO of Comic Republic, in Nigeria
- Musu Bakoto Sawo, National Coordinator of Think Young Women, in Gambia
- Noella Coursaris Musunka, Founder and CEO of the Georges Malaika Foundation, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
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.
