29 Apr 2014

The country’s education system need to be diverse in order for it to cater for those students who do not excel academically, says director of health services in the Ministry of Health, Dr Khumo Seipone.

Officiating at the Kgalagadi Region Excellence Awards ceremony in Kang, Dr Seipone said the education system should not focus only on producing white collar jobs candidates but should also seek ways to develop other talents that students possess.

She said students who cannot excel academically need to be encouraged to develop their artistic capabilities in an effort to empower them with other life survival skills. Proper structures, she said should be in place to adopt those students who did not excel in their academics and develop their other artistic talent.

“It is important for parents and teachers to encourage those students who could not further pursue their studies to venture into other avenues that do not need academic excellence like sports and acting to sustain themselves,” she said.

Dr Seipone further said career guidance should be done during the early learning years to enable students to make wise career decisions in life.

She said aptitude tests and counseling sessions conducted by career counselors can help students in finding out the right career options and the fields that interest them. 

Furthermore, Dr Seipone urged schools to work towards building child and teacher friendly schools as highlighted in the 1977 Botswana Education for Kagisano and the  Revised National Policy on Education of 1994. 

Education for Kagisano in particular she said fosters social justice therefore she indicated that to realise social justice there is need to pave way by instituting a democratic dispensation, fairness and equity in the schools.

“Education for Kagisano is about togetherness and sharing of responsibilities through respect despite differences hence, it is imperative for school leadership to build that sense of togetherness or communal spirit in their schools,” she said.

She further said research has shown that schools where the voices of all matters, students tend to do well academically than the schools where only the voice of the principal matters.

She also highlighted the importance of parental involvement in education saying that it should include active participation of parents in the entire children’s educational processes and experiences. Ends