01 Jul 2015

Deputy district commissioner for Good Hope Sub -district says for a country to develop, it needs educated and skilled manpower to drive its economy and sustain its development.

Mr Moagi Kenosi said this at the Southern Region Excellence Awards ceremony in Pitsane recently.

He said the theme of the event, Excellence in Education: Driving the Nation towards Sustainable Development, talked to the fact that  Botswana’s development was reliant upon the quality of products of its education system.

To address this, he said government has taken deliberate steps to improve and enhance education through programmes such as Education Training Strategic Sector Plan whose main objective is to provide quality, relevant and sustainable lifelong education to transform Botswana from a resource based to a skill and knowledge based society.

Mr Kenosi also congratulated the award recipients for out-classing and outperforming the rest in their sub-region, adding that the celebration was a stepping stone for such students to continue in their quest for academic excellence and determination in the years to come.

“I would like to urge you to continue taking your school work seriously and note that learning is a process that never ends. Continue aiming for improvement because high performance has no limit,” Mr Kenosi said.

Itireleng Junior Secondary from Lobatse Sub-region and Rachele Primary in the Kanye Sub region scooped best overall performing schools awards in the Southern region for Junior Certificate and Primary School

Leaving Examination  categories respectively.

The recipients of all the awards were nominated from primary, out of school, secondary, senior and Brigade/Vocational Training Centres/Technical Colleges in the five Sub-regions in the southern region being Kanye, Lobatse, Jwaneng/Mabutsane, Moshupa and Good Hope.

Earlier, in her welcome remarks, education director for Southern region Ms Maipelo Kesenye welcomed all to the ceremony adding that the occasion directly recognised the core mandate of the Ministry of Education and Skills Development “which is rewarding academic excellence.”

The day, she added celebrates enthusiasm, commitment and sheer hard work, adding that without enthusiasm there would have been very few achievements.

Ms Kesenye said education institutions are judged by the academic performance therefore such institutions and stakeholders are jointly responsible for provision of quality education.

She added that the recipients might have worked in groups or individually but with the support and encouragement of family they achieved.

She also thanked all the people who nominated the award winners, noting that it was one thing to do a good job but another thing to have people you work with, recognise the good job one does.

For his part, chief education officer, who is also chairperson for Excellence Awards Committee, Mr Basil Ncaagae said the significance of the awards was to celebrate power and ability to listen to commandments and acknowledge those who listened to the words of advice. Ends