01 Mar 2013

Some Members of Parliament have requested the Minister of Education and Skills Development to reconsider reverting the teaching profession back to the Teaching Service Act.

Debating the ministry’s budget proposal presented by the minister in Parliament, Kweneng East MP, Major General Moeng Pheto, despite his support for the proposed budget, argued that removing the teaching profession from the Public Service Act would help to address some of the challenges the ministry was faced with.

He argued that teaching was a special calling which needed a wholesome body to deal specifically with the profession and its challenges.

Major Gen. Pheto also noted that there was a general concern of shortage of teaching materials in many schools in the country and management was also poor.

He also emphasised the need for the ministry to continue with maintenance of schools and also expressed concern on the quality of education in the country which he said was consistently taking a nosedive.

Kgatleng West MP, Mr Gilbert Mangole also reiterated the need to revert back to the Teaching Service Act for the teaching profession arguing that it was a mistake that teachers were included in the Public Service Act.

However, Mr Mangole welcomed the decision by the ministry to transform colleges of education into semi-autonomous institutions to offer teacher education programmes at degree level.

The MP also hailed the standard one induction programme introduced in October last year to cater for children who did not have the opportunity to attend pre-school and to address issues of quality.

However, he was concerned that implementation of the programme left a lot to be desired, arguing that children did not have classrooms and there was also no teaching methods and material in the schools for the programme.

To that, the minister had reported to Parliament that the intention was to continuously monitor and make arrangements to evaluate the programme.

On in-service training, Mr Mangole argued that the programme should benefit all teachers across the country, particularly those in remote areas.

The MP also said he had expected the minister in her presentation to focus on last year’s examinations results which he argued were not satisfactory as well as measures that the ministry would put in place to arrest the situation.

He argued that some of the challenges that had led to the poor results included lack or shortage of books in schools around the country and that the teachers’ conditions of service were also unfavourable.

While the MP also hailed the Back-to-School initiative, he expressed concern that facilities were overstretched hence the need for the ministry to look into ways of improving the situation.

Okavango MP, Mr Bagalatia Arone also concurred with other MPs that the teaching profession should revert back to the Teaching Service Act and called for a comprehensive review on the assessment of the teaching profession.

Mr Arone also indicated that there were many challenges in the education sector that needed the ministry’s utmost attention. To that, he suggested that the minister should look into issues of welfare in the workforce as well as hours and levels of operation for teachers.

He also requested the minister to address the shortage of accommodation for teachers while assimilation of teachers also needed to be appraised. The MP also requested the minister to look into the calibre of school heads, managers and education officers who were assigned responsibilities countrywide.

Again, he said there was need to expedite electrification of schools which he argued should be among the ministry’s priorities. Mr Oreeditse Molebatsi of Tswapong South was also worried about lack of electricity in schools.

Mr Molebatsi expressed concern about some schools that consistently registered poor results at the end of every examination year and thus suggested that action be taken against managers of such schools to encourage improvement.

Also, the MP was worried about lack of progress on a decision that was taken construct a technical college in Chadibe .

To that, Minister Venson-Moitoi explained that the project was suspended due to economic downturn and was also worried that existing technical colleges were also underutilised.

Mahalapye East MP, Ms Botlogile Tshireletso was also concerned about dilapidated schools, especially at Moralane School in her constituency , where she said there was no kitchen.

However, Ms Tshireletso also welcomed the Back-to-School initiative but expressed concern that many of the students who had applied for re-entry were not admitted and there was no explanation.

The MP also expressed concern about lack of release of students’ certificates after completion of school, especially at BOCODOL. ENDS