06 Apr 2014

The request for primary schools head teachers to play an active role in activities such as market days, community service days and days for taking services to the people has elicited different reactions from the concerned parties.

At a meeting addressed by the North East deputy district commissioner, Mr Mooketsi Lesetedi on Thursday, April 3, some school heads expressed concern that they had been left behind when the initiatives were first put in place, wondering why their involvement was being sought now.

Ms Lesedi Gobela of Nlapkhwane Primary School said though activities like market days were not new, the involvement of school heads had not been sought at any point.

Ms Gobela said they would have loved to have been involved from the beginning, saying the decision to involve them now when a lot of progress had already been made was inappropriate.

She noted that her school had for some time been holding its own community service days without any input from the District Extension Team (DET), wondering if the involvement of the DET committee would not disturb the school’s laid out plan with regard to community service day activities.

On days slated for taking services to the people, Ms Gobela said such an event was in 2012 held in her school; something she pointed out she had not been informed about.

Ms Gobela’ sentiments were echoed by the school head for Gambule Primary School Ms Ndipo Mosweu , who said  in addition to having been left behind, they were now not being given sufficient information of what role exactly there were expected to play.

She observed that last year they had been told that they would be trained on how Village Extension Teams (VETs) functioned; alleging that to date nothing had been done.

“We were told that we would be trained, but that has not happened. How then are we expected to play a role when we do not even know what VETs are?” she asked.

Other school heads however embraced the news, observing that plans were already afoot to begin holding the said activities in the villages in which they served. Mr John Mmolotsi of Matsiloje Primary School said they had so far identified a market place where market days would be held.

He disclosed that they had decided that instead of holding market once every week as requested, they would have their market days on a daily basis to ensure that people who needed to sell their goods were not restricted to only one day in a week.

However, Mr Mmolotsi asked if it would not be possible for them to be given two Ipelegeng workers to help in capturing data relating to people who came to sell their wares at the market place.

This, he said would greatly help them in maintaining accurate records of activities taking place at the market place, something he noted would making reporting to authorities easier.

Ms Martha Mathumo of Pelotelele Primary School in Shashe Bridge said market days were a noble idea as they afforded villagers an opportunity to have access to a market for their goods. She said market days would give impetus to government’s efforts aimed at eradicating abject poverty.

“In Shashe Bridge we have met and even consulted with residents on the issue. We have even identified a place where the market days will be held,” she stated.

Earlier, Mr Lesetedi had informed the school heads that the office of the District Commissioner had received communication from the Office of the President to the effect that market days were now to be held weekly instead of monthly as had been the case in most places.

He had stated also that they had also been encouraged to give more focus to community service days as well as days for government departments and parastatal organisations to take services to the people.

As such, Mr Lesetedi noted that as the district leadership they had resolved to engage all stakeholders; adding that being chairpersons of VET committees, school heads had been identified as some of the key people whose contribution would go a long way in making the initiatives a success in the North East district.

For his part, the district officer –development, Mr Onkokame Mafoko urged school heads to note that their duty as public officers was to serve the nation, thereby imploring them to not view themselves as outsiders to the war against poverty.

He said instead of worrying about a possible increase in their workload, they ought to be asking themselves what would be the best possible ways of achieving the desired outcomes. ENDS