Thuma Mina Teaching began with a question: what if every learner, regardless of background, could access clear, engaging lessons for free? Founders Leopold and Silke van Velden brought two different vantage points to the answer. Leopold's decade teaching across South Africa's extremes, from under-resourced rural schools to elite institutions, showed him the cracks in the system firsthand. Silke's background working alongside education researchers and policymakers gave a broader lens on how those cracks could be closed.

Today, Thuma Mina Teaching is a non-profit EdTech organisation that transforms the Grade 7–9 CAPS curriculum (South Africa's national school syllabus) into high-quality, professionally produced video lessons, supplemented by assessments and learning materials. Content is available in both English and Afrikaans. Our mission is to drive better learning outcomes nationwide by making these resources available to teachers and learners at no cost.

So far, we have produced 279 video lessons, viewed over 10 million times in total. Each month, our content reaches 83,760 unique learners. To date, we have trained 1,010 teachers in Mpumalanga and the Western Cape, with training in the Northern Cape coming soon.

HOW WE REACH LEARNERS: FOUR CHANNELS

• Self-directed learning: Learners use TMT independently at home, on the bus, wherever they are. Structured playlists guide them through the curriculum at their own pace.
• Co-teacher in the classroom: Teachers use TMT lessons as a teaching partner. Videos introduce concepts, then teachers build on them with guided instruction.
• Aftercare & community centres: Facilitators use TMT's curriculum to run productive, curriculum-aligned sessions, even without a subject specialist. QR bookmarks give learners direct, data-free access to the exact lesson they need.
• Teacher training: Face-to-face workshops, fully accredited by the South African Council for Educators (SACE), supported by the asynchronous TMT LearnLab platform.

WHY TMT WORKS

• One-click accessibility: Delivered through YouTube. No sign-ups, no fees, no paywalls.
• A clear curriculum roadmap: Every subject follows a structured roadmap aligned to the full CAPS curriculum.
• Highest quality, for free: Every lesson reflects 45–50 hours of expert input, delivered to learners at no cost.
• Reimagined, not replicated: Curriculum brought to life through engaging facilitators and relatable South African examples.
• Professionally produced: Each lesson is built by a full team, including a subject matter expert, learning designer, peer reviewer, project manager, presenter, and video editor.
• Peer-reviewed for accuracy: Every lesson is checked by a learning designer and content specialist, then peer reviewed by a subject expert, before it is published.
• A resource, not a replacement: We strengthen teaching, without replacing our teachers.
• Nationally accredited training: Our teacher training is SACE-accredited, meeting South Africa's official standard for professional development.

RECOGNITION

TMT is one of 12 fellows in the Mastercard Foundation EdTech Fellowship, 2025 Cohort, selected through Injini, Africa's largest EdTech incubator. TMT has also been named to the HolonIQ Africa EdTech 50 list in 2023 and 2024. Our lessons in Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) have earned a 91% pedagogical quality score from Education Alliance Finland.

Thuma Mina Teaching YouTube Channel.