30 Mar 2014

Tutume Sub-district has engaged 684 youth to participate in the Botswana National Service Program (BNSP), also known as Tirelo-Sechaba.

District youth officer, Mr Wilson Mbongwe revealed in an interview that the participants would be deployed to various government departments effective April 1.

He said Tirelo-Sechaba would keep youth off the streets, adding that staying without employment for prolonged periods will expose young people to anti-social behavior such as indulging in substance and alcohol abuse. He further explained that the participants will work in different departments where they will be tasked with office duties.

“Each constituency has been allocated 228 participants. Participants will largely be placed in their own villages or where they have accommodation to avoid housing challenges which are currently experienced by public servants,” he said.

Mr Mbongwe added that the expected entry age for national service is 20-30 years with qualifications ranging from ordinary primary school leaving certificate, brigade and trade qualifications to certificate level.

He said the national service is meant to promote good citizenship, volunteerism and self-reliance. “The only difference is that unlike the old Tirelo Sechaba, this one is voluntary and participants will be serving largely within their localities. Also for the new programme the enrolment period had been stretched to 10 years of service,” he said.

He said participants were allowed to stay in the programme for as long as they wanted so long as they fell within the maximum 30 years old age bracket. Participants would also exit the programme any time they wanted after a year.

Mr Mbongwe further revealed that they experienced a few problems that included young people who submitted applications two months before they turned 30, and those who applied even though they were pregnant.

He also revealed that they received more applications than they had anticipated which forced them to allocate more than three participants per office. Ends