03 Dec 2014

The Vice President Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi has called upon the Ministry of Education Skills and Development staff to work together for the improvement of the quality of education in Botswana.

Mr Masisi who is also the Minister of Education and Skills Development, together with his two assistant ministers, Dr Unity Dow and Mr Moiseraele Goya addressed the staff on Tuesday, December 2.

The Vice President encouraged the employees to always perform and deliver their duties in the best interest of Botswana. 

“I have come here to plead with you and to beg you to give your very best, not to me, but to Botswana, because that Botswana is yours and mine equally,” he said.

Being the political leadership of the ministry, Mr Masisi said him and his assistant ministers were charged with the responsibility of providing political leadership in the ministry and were determined and committed to deliver on that mandate.

“So we are committed to delivering not only on our manifesto that we took to voters to vote us in, but also on our leaders five point agenda.

We are committed to improving the quality of education by essentially improving the working conditions and welfare of teachers, including even those who are not teachers,” he said.

Mr Masisi said he was committed to improving the quality of education by improving the delivery mechanisms, curricular, classrooms, laboratories, among others.

This, he said was what they had promised Batswana and also what Batswana voted the ruling party into power for. However, to achieve all this, he said the ministry required every staff member to be committed to delivering in terms of their assignments and competences.

Furthermore, Mr Masisi declared that he had a fundamental problem with any thinking or believes that public servants have a right to be politically active.

“I have a fundamental disagreement with it. It is fundamental to my beliefs. So, I must declare my interests in advance. If you have a different view to what I have with respect to that issue, then we are headed for a serious disagreement,” he said.

He cautioned anyone who felt moved enough to want to participate in politics to leave the public service and join politicians in that space.

“It doesn’t matter where you go. I think this is a very free country, you can join any grouping or start your own, but I do not want us to be mixing business with fun- by being a politician who wants to be a public officer or vice versa,” he added.

For his part, Mr Goya said his portfolio responsibility would be basic education, which covers pre-primary, primary, junior and senior secondary schools. He said he made this choice himself and it comes with very huge responsibility, which he said he was prepared for.
He also urged the ministry’s staff to work hard together to turn the ministry around and produce quality graduates who could compete globally for jobs.

“You should strive to add value to the overall mission, vision and values of the ministry and ultimately that of the country,” he added.

For her part, Dr Dow who would be focusing mainly on higher education encouraged the staff to work hard and deliver good results for the betterment of the entire ministry.

Commenting, the staff expressed gratitude for their ministry’s leadership to have found time to address them and hear their concern about lack of recognition and reward for their performance as well as lack of promotions.

The meeting was convened to accord Minister Masisi an opportunity to officially introduce himself and his assistant ministers to the ministry staff and share with them the ministry’s roadmap, expectations and also hear the staff’s expectations. ENDS