05 Aug 2015

The chief education officer at the Molepolole Administrative Authority/Lentsweletau Sub-district, Ms Rosalind Serumola, says synergies between primary and secondary school teachers are vital for the consistent performance of students.

Addressing guidance and counselling teachers during a psycho-social support workshop for Kweneng schools in Molepolole recently, Ms Serumola said it was necessary for primary school teachers to track the performance of their standard seven students when they graduated to junior secondary school.

She said they had realised that the performance of most students declined tremendously after they moving to junior secondary schools.

She said the trend called for teamwork between primary and junior secondary school teachers. She said such collaboration would bring about strategies that could impact positively on the performance of students.

She commended primary school teachers for their good efforts in developing students, adding that they evidently had the best interest of the students at heart.

“Most primary school students are well disciplined and perform better because their teachers are very patient with them and understand the different challenges that students face,” she said.

She encouraged them not to be discouraged by the declining performance levels at junior and senior secondary schools. She advised that the only way to reduce the decline was to interact with secondary school teachers.

She said the teaching profession requires patience as students exhibit different kinds of behaviour and face a number of social challenges that call for a teacher’s intervention. 

Ms Serumola further encouraged the guidance and counselling teachers to work very hard to create a conducive environment for both students and parents to interact with them.

She stated that some students have mammoth challenges that require a friendly environment in order for them to open up to their teachers and confide in them. 

The workshop was attended by 40 guidance and counselling teachers from the Kweneng region.

The objectives of the forum were to equip teachers with skills to deal with student challenges and to teach them to empower students with the same survival skills. Ends