29 Sep 2014

Maun Technical College Student Representative Council (SRC) leader, Mr Dick George says the acting deputy permanent secretary’s visit to the school was not beneficial to students as he failed to bring solutions to their grievances.

He said in an interview after the meeting with the acting permanent secretary, Mr Leonard Mutheto that they had high expectations that something positive would come out of the meeting, but he came empty handed despite the fact that he was informed about their concerns in advance.

Mr George expressed disappointment that Mr Mutheto informed them that most of their grievances had been addressed, but there was nothing in place, hence they boycotted classes.

He said students had resolved to continue fighting for their educational rights until their grievances were addressed amicably.  “We are not going back to classes until the management delivers learning materials to help us prepare for our practical examination scheduled for October 6,” he added.

The acting permanent secretary’s visit resulted from students boycotting classes starting September 19 to protest against what they termed lack of recognition and consultation by management.

Students were also protesting over ‘uncondusive’ learning environment, which they said was untidy, shortage of resources, poor food, poor working relationship between management and the SRC.

Mr George said Mr Mutheto appreciated that the management was too slow to react to their grievances as some of the issues could have been addressed internally. He said the acting permanent secretary assured them that efforts would be made to ensure the management acts according to issues of concern.

For his part, Mr Mutheto said there had been a local attempt to address most of the issues, but students were not satisfied, hence they requested to take up the matter with his office. 

He said the school management, with support from the regional director, had solved some issues such as delivery of cartridge, and equipping SRC office so that it could be effectively functional.  The acting PS said efforts would be made to address pending issues.

Mr Mutheto also said the students also complained about the delay to register for examination and that some results had not been released.  But he explained that there was a group of students who had to re-write examinations because there were a lot of issues that needed to be investigated.

The regional education director, Mr Acronews Maseko said they had a working document with the institution, which had all issues, adding that most of the issues were resolved before the standoff. He said since students complain that the management is too slow to act on issue, his office would focus on monitoring and supervision. ENDS