29 May 2014

Rampant abuse of drugs and other habit forming substances among students has the potential to affect education and learning leading to poor results in schools.

The Member of Parliament for Mogoditshane said this when addressing a kgotla meeting in Nkoyaphiri ward in Mogoditshane.

Mr Masimolole, who is also the Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development, said government was equally worried by the situation, as the schools in the areas had not been doing well for four years now prompting the education ministry to meet with the stakeholders over the issue.

He said indiscipline and substance abuse among students in Mogoditshane contributed to poor education results that continued to characterise schools in the village. Students did drugs such as marujwana and alcohol, he added.

The situation, he noted, was compounded by parents who had abdicated the responsibility of moulding children to teachers and rarely visit schools to check on children’s progress. Some of the students take advantage to abscond from schools to attend non-educational activities such Btv’s Mokaragana and My Star, he said.

Mr Masimolole said when parents are not closely monitoring school work of their children; they usually realised wayward behavior late when they perform badly during examinations. 

He commended government for the infrastructure put up across Botswana, adding that teachers alone cannot mould children into responsible citizens and future leaders if parents still take the back seat when it comes to the education of their children. 

MP Masimolole said indiscipline and drug abuse in schools breed bo-bashi and criminals who would rob their own parents, hence the need for a collaborative effort by all stakeholders to curb the problem. 

He also blamed some parents who sell drugs to kids “because they are not their children” saying through Setswana culture and norms a child should belong to the society and urged all to cooperate with teachers for the best interest of the children.

Students spend more time at police station on drug related crimes than they do in classrooms and it was not surprising that majority of police cases involve young persons, the situation he said might hamper the nation’s dream to realise an educated and informed nation as espoused by the national vision 2016. ENDS