Low maths esteem among young people drives mathematics teacher to do good

Cape Town - The country’s low mathematics enrolment in high schools has moved a local mathematics teacher to give back by using his gift and passion for mathematics to benefit young people.

Mogamat Nabeel Bardien, who will be turning 40 at the end of this month, works as a mathematics teacher at Sans Souci Girls’ High School. Bardien has been teaching and tutoring mathematics for two decades and now uploads recordings of his mathematics classes on YouTube.

Musa Cader, a former pupil at the leadership college in Cape Town, said though he was not Bardien’s pupil, he was able to benefit from videos he sent to his pupils on WhatsApp.

“In the first lockdown, I tried teaching myself to stay up to date with school work as there was no one to teach me. However, it was challenging to try and teach myself anything with the world falling apart in the background. Mr Bardien continued teaching his kids over WhatsApp, then had extended his maths tuition videos to our school and eventually invited some to his free classes for which I was really grateful.

“Mr Bardien's tutoring helped me tremendously, and I even went on to matriculate with a distinction in his subject (mathematics). I am now in second year Mechatronics Engineering at Stellenbosch University,” he said.

Bardien said that the driving force behind him uploading his lessons on YouTube was so that young people can have free and accessible mathematics lessons. He shared how he is deeply saddened by the low mathematics marks in schools in South Africa.

“When young people come to high school, they already tell themselves that they can’t do maths. Many parents encourage their children to not take maths because they themselves battle with it. I would like to change that and assist young people to take advantage of the many opportunities maths can give them,” he said.

Bardien said that there is room for improvement as far as the Western Cape mathematics pass rate is concerned. Though the provincial matric pass rate has gone down, Bardien said he is proud of the matric class of 2022.

“We need to evaluate the position of maths as a country and encourage pupils to not give up on maths. The country is outsourcing professionals from other countries, and many of these outsourced professions require maths,” he said.

Bardien shared how his videos on YouTube have been widely shared and viewed. They have assisted pupils outside the Western Cape. He shared how he often gets messages from as far as the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga.

“There was a viewer of my videos, who was in matric, who shared how the school went without a maths teacher for a long duration. She shared how my videos assisted her at this time and she was able to pass,” he said.

Nazia Hassiem, a senior mathematics teacher at Groenvlei High school, said Bardien’s mathematics videos have been both useful and innovative.

“As an FET maths teacher, my goal has been to try and find innovative and easier methods to teach my learners. From a teacher's perspective, Nabeel's YouTube channel has helped me to achieve this goal. It is also a great tool to use for my lesson preparation. The bonus to this is that if there are learners who need additional support, or who have missed a lesson, they can easily access the lesson at any time,” she said.

Sans Souci acting principal Shirley Humphreys said Bardien is a valued asset at the school and that since he took over as the head of the mathematics department, there has been a general increase in mathematics assessment marks, particularly in Grade 9.

Fasiega Adams, who is a parent of a pupil who attends Bardien’s extra classes, said she was grateful for the influence Bardien has had on her child’s confidence levels where mathematics is concerned. She also praised the online YouTube videos as being useful and impactful.

Bardien says he has been tutoring mathematics since he was in high school. He is highly passionate about mathematics and seeing more young people soar at it. He is available for tutoring and can be contacted via his YouTube page, where you can also find his lessons.

You can watch the mathematics lessons here: https://youtube.com/@mathematicswithmogamatnabe3613