31 Mar 2014

Eight hundred and thrty-three students enrolled in primary schools under the Remote Area Development Programme in the Southern District; another 200 are in junior secondary schools.

Mr Leach Tlhomelang, the chairperson of the Southern District Council, said during the official opening of the full council meeting in Kanye recently that such students suffered the misfortune of dropping out of school.

Mr Tlhomelang said the council lacked money to help the form three and form five drop-outs with further education and training. He said the council would continue to mobilise families to support their children to complete their school programme and also appealing for financial support from private sector to sponsor some of the children.

He said there was a high level of consciousness and interest to enroll in tertiary institutions by students and sense of commitment to complete programmes. However, any lack of commitment to academic work was a result of family support and it hampered the RADP initiative.

‘’This result in continuous retakes as a result of unsatisfactory performance and the situation worsens when there is lack of funds to supplement their monthly allowance,’’ he said.

Concerning Youth Development Fund (YDF), Mr Tlhomelang said P11.5 million was allocated to the district and P7.3 million had been disbursed into youth accounts with 112 projects approved for this financial year.

He said 130 entrepreneurs were trained in entrepreneurship skills for better management of their businesses, stating that 697 jobs have been created since the inception of YDF. 

He said there were 296 agricultural projects as well as 153 and 65 projects in the service and manufacturing sectors respectively.

Mr Tlhomelang said there was improved programme uptake by youth in the remote areas communities where seven small stock projects, 16 cattle projects, one in manufacturing and one hardware under service category.

He noted that there was an initiative by the council to inculcate business skills and ethics among beneficiaries through training in management, restocking, marketing, loan repayment and customer care. Beneficiaries are encouraged to collaborate in securing market and supplying products through market cooperatives. Ends