26 Oct 2014

The principal of Tswapong Bokone Brigade, Mr Cornelius Matlhare, has appealed to the public not to look at vocational education and training as a last resort.

Speaking at the brigade's prize giving ceremony in Lerala recently, Mr Matlhare said children were only advised to apply to brigades when they had failed their junior certificate examinations. Mr Matlhare said the attitudes of the learners were sometimes a reflection of the attitudes of the parents and that of society towards brigades or vocational education.

He said it was not uncommon for statements that demean or belittle vocational education to be made. “Children are often warned that if they are not serious they will end up in the brigades”, he said. He said vocational education was regarded as second hand education and students opt for vocational courses when they could not find places in general education institutions.

Mr Matlhare advised parents and students to appreciate vocational education because the skills that were cherished so much from other countries like Zimbabwe were the same skills that children were denied by their parents when they prefered that they go for general education instead of vocational courses.

Mr Matlhare however said that he was proud because many of his students have successfully completed their course of study and have left to continue with studies at a higher level.

He said the brigade was in the process of designing an instrument by which former trainees could be tracked in order to know how they were coping in society and how they were contributing to the economy of the country.

Earlier when officially opening the ceremony, the executive director of Construction Industry Trust Fund (CITF) Mr Jackie Moepi encouraged the learners to develop and grow an alternative means of economic livelihood when they complete their studies.

He said the government could not employ all the graduates after completing their vocational training. He implored the trainees to have in them the ambition to complete their vocational training successfully and create employment for others as they establish themselves in the world of work. “Develop in you an entrepreneurial spirit which you must sustain without fear of the unknown”, he said.

Mr Moepi said brigades and technical colleges graduates could better utilise government assistance programmes to contribute to their own success in business and towards the development of Botswana.

He challenged the management and staff to transform Tswapong Bokone Brigade to Tswapong Technical College by offering certificate and diploma level programmes. ENDS