University of Cape Town Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng has won the inaugural Africa Education Medal for her impact, leadership, and advocacy in the field of African education. Professor Phakeng was chosen as the winner from among 10 finalists for the Africa Education Medal from across the continent including H.E. Jakaya Kikwete, former President of Tanzania.
The new award was founded this year by T4 Education and HP in collaboration with Intel and Microsoft. The Africa Education Medal was founded to recognise the work of those changemakers who are transforming African education.
Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town, South Africa, and among the world’s leading scholars in mathematics education. She became the first black female South African to achieve a PhD in Mathematics Education in 2002. 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 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 awards. 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 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.
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.
The winner of the Africa Education Medal was chosen by a Jury from among 10 finalists who were;
- 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.