11 Jun 2014

Phase IV Customary Court president, Kgosi Masego Masonya says he was disappointed by the low turn-out at a consultative meeting with Botswana College Agriculture (BCA) in Francistown recently.

BCA is on a countrywide consultative tour as it would soon transform from being a college to a university.

 Kgosi Masonya emphasised that the purpose of the meeting was to better the welfare of the people, therefore such behaviour and negative response was demoralising to development initiatives.



He stated that even though many people did not attend, the messages would be spread through kgotla meetings.
 
BCA head of delegation, Professor Cecil Patrick said the school management had decided to send delegations to different parts of the country to sensitise people about the transformation and to get feedback.



He further stated that one of the reasons the institution was transforming was because students were not interested in pursuing agriculture, and also the fact that they have been operating as a college. 



“Agriculture has now become an all too important sector in government; hence the school is needed to drive this sector by purposefully and specifically focusing on this sector,” he said.



The school has experienced significant growth since its inception in the 1950’s at Mahalapye and then moved to Sebele in 1967 and was consequently incorporated in to the University of Botswana (UB) in 1991. 

Mr Melton Bangale from Tshukudu Horticulture Association suggested a change of the curriculum. 



He said the rest of the world has moved on and that Botswana needed to follow these steps and operate at an international level.

Mr Bangale said parents in the past had often complained that students were more theoretical than practical.

Some residents complained that despite students being expected to go for practical assignments, they were rarely seen where they were needed in rural areas as most of the chose to be attached to branches with offices in towns.

They said this did not in any way help students garner the right skills and knowledge. 

Kgosi Gunny Moses of Monarch expressed disappointment that it seemed developments were only concentrated in the south, especially in Gaborone, before suggesting that the name of the university, should look for one that captured and reflected their culture and should adopt a Setswana name.



He lamented that urbanisation was being done the wrong way and that the government should always look at the long term benefits when making agricultural developments, as there was a lot of water and fertile soils in the northern region. ENDS