Rhodes pays tribute to ‘distinguished alumni award’ winner William Smith

As tributes continue pouring in for renowned maths and science teacher Dr William Smith, his alma mater Rhodes University has joined in remembering South Africa's beloved “teacher of the nation”.

Smith, a science and mathematics teacher, died peacefully at his home in Perth, Australia, on Wednesday surrounded by family. He moved there after his retirement to live with his family.

His daughter Jessica said he was recently diagnosed with advanced incurable cancer. He was 85.

Rhodes paid tribute to the “education giant” as it detailed his academic background with the university.

The university conferred a degree of Doctor of Laws (LLD) (honoris causa) on Smith in 2021, just two years after he received its distinguished alumni award.

Smith also completed his BSc and BSc (Hons), both with distinction, at the university. His parents, JLB Smith (who identified the coelacanth) and Margaret Smith (ichthyologist and accomplished fish illustrator) also had ties to the institution, Rhodes said.

“His first project in the education sector was establishing Star Schools to provide value for money education with top-class teachers. During 20 years with Smith at the helm, Star Schools was responsible for some of the most innovative advancements in education seen in South Africa, including the pre-university school, which prepared first-year students and was adopted by universities across the country.

“Smith pioneered SABC broadcast education with audiovisual backup, started the Let’s Speak Afrikaans radio programmes, authored several study guides in physical science, developed a world-first in a TV studio to produce educational videotapes and his basic mathematics video series was rated the best educational programme on video in the world in 1984 in the UK.”

Rhodes also spoke about Smith's rise in popularity over the years, becoming one “of the most popular science teachers with about 12,000 students passing through his hands” over the years. 

In 1990, Smith began producing educational TV programmes for  The Learning Channel and by 2000 he had “pioneered educational broadcasts in 28 countries in Africa”, Rhodes said.

“A few years later, he pioneered the first live interactive education across the African continent, using the TV-Africa satellite signal and satellite telephone lines back to the studios to talk to students across Africa. This reached tens of millions of people daily.

“Dealing with three completely different syllabi and several languages simultaneously and a three or four-second delay each time when talking to the pupils proved to be one of the most difficult things Smith undertook.”

In 2019, Smith received The Order of the Baobab from President Cyril Ramaphosa in recognition of his contribution to maths and science.

Weighing in on Smith's passing was the university's vice-chancellor Prof Sizwe Mabizela, who said: “We honour his legacy and express our deepest condolences to his loved ones and all who were guided by someone we consider to have been the teacher of the nation.

“Thanks to his exceptional teaching skills and compassion, for almost two decades, the Learning Channel became an indispensable platform for young people of our country to receive interactive TV education in mathematics and science. In this way, he became the teacher for the entire South African nation.”

Mandilakhe Kila, a stakeholder engagement officer at the institution who nominated Smith for the Rhodes university distinguished alumni award, explained: “I saw it fit to nominate Smith because of the memorable influence he had on my childhood and my generation. We would come back from school and there he was, on TV, simplifying maths and physics. His passion made us want to learn more.”

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