29 May 2014

Government is worried by some teachers who encourage pupils to engage in wayward, reckless and dangerous behaviour.

Addressing a kgotla meeting in Ledumang on May 27, Gaborone North MP, Mr Keletso Rakhudu said there was an increasing number of reports of pupils involved in substance abuse such as cocaine, crack cocaine and ecstasy.

Mr Rakhudu, who is also the Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development said, “we are going to do everything in our power to make sure that we root out these teachers and we cannot do this without the support and help of parents.” 

Mr Rakhudu appealed to parents to pay closer attention to children and take their wellbeing seriously. “Parents need to closely observe children and make sure that they are not doing anything they should not be doing,” he said.

He indicated that his ministry recently got the largest share of the budget for the 2014/2015 financial year and promised that the funds would be put to good use. A total of P3 million, he noted, would go towards sponsoring tertiary students.

Mr Rakhudu further said results in schools had been on the decline due to numerous challenges, citing the high ratio of students to teachers, shortage of teachers’ accommodation, remuneration and lack of progression, among other things.

He spoke against voter trafficking and advised people to observe and report anything illegal regarding general elections. “Voter trafficking has the ability to undermine our solid democracy and we should not allow such to happen,” he said.

On poverty eradication, Mr Rakhudu lamented that such programmes were not working well in Gaborone North, adding that government employees tasked with implementing the programmes were dragging their feet in rolling them out.

“I honestly do not understand why people responsible for these programmes have to wait for the community to report to us politicians about not being helped,” he said.

He also raised a concern about vandalism in Ledumang such as cable theft, which left residents in darkness and cost the country a lot. He appealed to the community to report those involved in such acts.

When commenting, residents complained about the bus rank and its contribution to the wayward behaviour of some pupils, incomplete houses which had become hiding place for criminals and students who used them for unruly behaviuor.

They pleaded with the minister to engage council officials to clamp down on people who did not complete their houses. ENDS