13 Sep 2015

Jwaneng mayor, Mr Tsietsi-Oodira Kwenje, has promised to carry on with his predecessor’s initiative to improve student’s performance in the mining town. He was speaking at the third annual Mayor’s Candlelight ceremony under the theme “Moving Forward with Jwaneng Community Beyond 2016” in Jwaneng recently.

Mr Oodira-Kwenje noted that the event was part of the initiative’s pillar of youth empowerment. 

He said the Mayor’s Candlelight was former mayor Mr Amos Jahan’s brainchild. He noted that the initiative was to motivate students just before their Junior Certificate and Primary School Leaving Examinations. 

He called on parents and teachers to fully support this noble gesture which he said had good intentions for both students and overall education sector.

Jwaneng Mine corporate affairs manager, Ms Montlenyane Baaitse, said she was optimistic Jwaneng schools’ pass rate would improve if more effort was put on community collaborative initiatives such as the Mayor’s Candlelight ceremony. 

“These are future leaders of the Jwaneng community and indeed our country, and as parents, leaders and teachers we have an obligation to handhold them and give them a baton to march into the future. For if we do so we will keep pace with what the mayor wants to achieve through this event,” she said.

She said Jwaneng Mine spent P1 million annually towards the Debswana Government School’s Development Programme which encompassed government primary schools in Jwaneng and its peripheries. 

Mayor’s Candlelight patron, Mr Amos Jahana, said the initiative was intended to give students hope in the examinations as well as to emphasize the importance of education in their lives. He also said it aimed at bringing together different sectors such as the business community to appreciate the importance of education and to invest in it. Ends