Nearly 500 South African primary school mathematics teachers will receive additional problem-solving training through a partnership between the Government Employees Pension Fund and South African Mathematics Foundation.
The Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) formally handed over funding to the South African Mathematics Foundation (SAMF) at an event held at the NRF-SAASTA offices in Pretoria.
The funding will support SAMF’s latest online Mathematical Problem-Solving (MPS) Course, which has attracted 495 primary school mathematics teachers.
The programme, hosted in collaboration with Limina Education Services and presented by Dr Erna Lampen and Alwyn Olivier, runs from 20 August to 15 October 2026.
It is designed to strengthen teachers’ ability to solve non-routine and Olympiad-style mathematics problems while providing practical strategies they can introduce into their classrooms.
Rather than focusing only on finding the correct answer, the programme helps teachers develop the confidence to guide learners through unfamiliar problems, encourage mathematical reasoning and support children when solutions are not immediately apparent.
SAMF offers the MPS Course in online and face-to-face formats. The online programme consists of six weekly units using a flipped-classroom approach, while the face-to-face programme is normally delivered over two Saturdays.
Primary school teachers complete one level, while secondary school teachers can progress through four levels.
GEPF principal executive officer Musa Mabesa and SAMF executive director Professor Seithuti Moshokoa were among those attending the funding handover.
Moshokoa said strengthening teachers’ problem-solving abilities could have a direct impact on how learners engage with mathematics.
“When teachers become more confident problem-solvers, they are better equipped to help learners think, reason, and engage meaningfully with mathematics,” he said.
“This partnership creates a natural alignment between the GEPF’s mandate to serve many teachers who are government employees, and SAMF’s mandate to strengthen mathematics education through teacher empowerment and learner development.”
The programme can also help teachers prepare learners to participate in mathematics competitions.
Teachers completing the training often become more confident about entering primary school learners into the South African Mathematics Challenge and secondary school learners into the South African Mathematics Olympiad.
These competitions expose learners to challenging, age-appropriate problems that require them to apply mathematical reasoning beyond routine classroom exercises.
The GEPF funding will therefore support the immediate development of 495 teachers while potentially extending its impact to the learners they teach.
