03 Sep 2015

Parents are expected to play an active role in the upbringing of their children in order for them to attain academic excellence.

Speaking during Masunga Senior Secondary School’s 20^th anniversary fundraising dinner in Masunga, the Northern region general manager of Barloworld Motors, Mr Paul Mmeke urged stakeholders to play their role in pursuit of academic excellence.

Mr Mmeke said the school, after the home, lays a foundation for the development of children, unlocks their potential, sharpens their talents and fashions them into responsible citizens. He said the government alone could not tackle the challenges of the day and achieve the much desired results.

He urged parents and teachers to double their efforts and ensure that they were not the weakest link in the process of attaining academic excellence.

Furthermore, Mr Mmeke highlighted the individual role as well as collective effort as a way to play a pivotal role in ensuring that they reach their desired goal of academic excellence.

As for the dinner theme: ‘A step towards Vision 2016, striving for academic excellence,’ Mr Mmeke said if they aspired to attain academic excellence, the emphasis should change from looking at education from a quantitative platform, to a qualitative perspective.

 He added that academic excellence was a key performance indicator that measured how well they have done towards achieving the ‘an educated and informed nation’ pillar.

 “Education is as crucial to the development of individuals as it is to societies and nations, and if we indeed believe that the world has become a global village, we then need to up our game so that we can be able to compete globally,” he saidd.

 He also acknowledged the community’s presence for the noble initiative.

 “This to me is a testimony to your understanding of the Setswana adage that says, wa esi ga o ele,” he said.

Mr Mmeke also stated that they need the government to play the enabler role in providing the much needed infrastructure, designing the required programmes of study and having the human resources that would facilitate the whole process. He also pleaded with corporate citizens to supplement the government’s effort and uplift the livelihoods of the citizenry around them.

He said the spirit of voluntarism needs to be rekindled, and the nation’s pride restored.

The publicity secretary of the schools anniversary committee, Mr Abednico Phili said their target was to raise P60 000 from the dinner, and that their ambition and target for the anniversary was to raise P1 million.

 He thanked the community and dikgosi from different villages for their contribution of traditional foods and making the dinner a success. Mr Philli also pleaded with companies to temporarily adopt the school and help them realise their dream.

 Masunga senior will be celebrating its 20^th anniversary on September 11. Barloworld Motor contributed P5 000 and the community and other companies were asked to also lend a helping hand. Ends