20 Mar 2013

The Minister of Education and Skills Development, Dr Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi has urged youth in Satau in the Chobe district to utilise available educational programmes such as the newly introduced Back-to-School initiative.

Addressing a kgotla meeting in Satau on March 18, where it emerged that several youth had not registered for any of the programmes on offer, the minister  advised parents to participate in their children’s education and join Parents Teachers Association as this would make teachers' job easier.

Responding to residents’ suggestions for a unified senior secondary school, Dr Venson-Moitoi said they should take into consideration the five big schools that were recently built, as they would then remain unutilised.

“We must have an assessment of how many students we are looking at before anything can be decided,” she said. 

The residents had expressed concern about the long distance between their village and the nearest senior school, which is 300km away in Nata.

Dr Venson-Moitoi also advised parents to source school uniforms from their fellow residents to empower them.  She also encouraged schools to purchase fresh produce locally instead of getting them from other villages.

She noted that the introduction of teachers’ aides had yielded positive results in bridging the communication gap especially in non-Setswana speaking areas.

She also announced that every school that has over 1 800 students should have a full-time nurse, which she said is currently under implementation. ENDS