11 Jun 2014

Deputy district commissioner for Lobatse, Mr Ernest Phiri says teachers should work collaboratively despite the challenges they face.

Speaking during this year’s teachers’ day, Mr Phiri said technology was at “our finger tips” therefore teachers should embrace it. Mr Phiri said teachers were fundamental at any level of education, adding that they were instrumental in making an impact in the country’s economic growth.

He said information and communication technologies (ICTs) had an enormous potential for knowledge dissemination, knowledge acquisition, effective e learning and the development of more efficient education services.

Mr Phiri said teachers should ensure that the education sector provided adequate opportunities for all learners to develop the necessary skills and knowledge needed.

He warned teachers to be on guard against misuse of technology in schools such as students accessing pornographic sites and the misuse of social networks.

To curb that, he said teachers should familiarise themselves with the cybercrime act.

On other issues, deputy district commissioner decried the rampant indiscipline, alcohol and drug abuse in schools.

Meanwhile, the national organising secretary of Botswana Sectors of Educators Trade Union (BOSETU) Mr Ompatile Modise said the theme invited teachers to introspect as a collective on the emergence of global technological changes.

On a different note, Mr Modise said teachers should desist from the habit of committing their salaries, noting that financial embarrassment was an offence.

He said teachers should exercise restraint in their spending patterns. “We have to live within our means,” said Mr Modise.

He added teacher trade unions, have partnered with some financial institutions and other equally concerned organisations, to roll out lessons on personal financial management.

Motivational speaker Mr Calvin Phokontsi applauded teachers for the great commitment they have shown in their quest for lasting solutions to the education enigma.

Mr Phokontsi said for teachers to earn themselves respect they should take themselves seriously.

For her part a standard five pupil at Ipelegeng Primary School Ms Thuto Molema  said “a teacher is a champion of education, a nation builder, a prospective person who acquires basic knowledge about the conditions of learning which his teaching must always provide”.

She said further said a teacher had proven beyond reasonable doubt to have knowledge of the needs of children, and the best ways of teaching children at different stages.


The outreach cluster made up of eight primary schools, four junior secondary schools, one senior secondary school and one tertiary school donated food grocery and toiletry worth P3, 600 to three families of people living with disability and three destitute families.

The leader of the outreach cluster Mrs Pearl Dikobe said they have social responsibility at their heart and in future they intend to build a house for the need. Ends