15 Feb 2015

Most people prefer to get paid for sharing or teaching others their skills but this is not the case with Walter Ndlovu, a standard four teacher at Selolwane Primary School who has dedicated his time to share his knowledge of art with pupils at the school at no cost. 

His love for art is seen as one enters the school by looking at different maps drawn on the classrooms walls.  He has also painted different animals which symbolize totems used in the village to teach students about culture.

Ndlovu said his passion for art started when he was still doing his primary studies at Tatitown Primary school in Francistown. He said he would draw anything that he saw around the school.

He participated in a lot of art competitions and managed to get certificates. He said that he continued with art even at tertiary school when he chose to do art & craft and physical education at Francistown College of Education.  Ndlovu said that he has seen it fit to be one of the resource teachers at the school to use his talent to teach students who are interested in developing their art skills.

One of his main tasks is to judge student’s practical work during subjects fairs.He said in 2008 the school got position 3 after participating in Tutume West subject fair and in 2010 they got position one when 45 schools took part in Tutume North subject fair.He said that he had assisted students to produce different projects and most of them made it to the nationals and won prizes. He said that they also do competitions in the school to encourage students to showcase their talents and each year more students enter the competition.

He said that his hard work paid off when encouraged a standard two student to participate in the oral health competition organized by the Ministry of Health recently when primary students were asked to produce a poster which can teach about oral health. He said the student representing the school managed to get first position, winning a trophy for the school and another for himself. He also got P500 as prize money.

Ndlovu said that the introduction of Creative and Performing Art (CAPA) subject for lower levels in primary school is a good initiative as they use the subject to encourage students to be creative and participate in different projects such as painting, textile, gardening, cooking, singing and dancing. Ndlovu said that art can be used as a career and some of the characteristics to have are passion, patience, creativity and appreciating what is around you as most artist paint or draw what they see around them. He said one should also learn more about the principles and elements of art, producing many paintings to improve their talent.

He said that he is learning to use different computer drawing softwares and plans to share the skill with the students. His future plan is to use his designs to produce t-shirts and caps. ENDS