11 Oct 2015

The Secretary for Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Ms Kebonye Moepeng has encouraged students to continue displaying their talent and making their families proud. 

Speaking at a prize giving ceremony  at Tonota Junior Secondary School, Ms Moepeng informed the students that despite the satisfactory results, some of them seem not to take education very seriously.

She said in many schools across the country, one of the most common problems was parents not attending Parents Teachers Association (PTA) meetings and other activities, especially in the running of the schools. 

Ms Moepeng therefore urged parents to commit to play a more active role in their children’s education. She said it takes the biological parents, extended family and the community at large to raise children that can make them proud.

Ms Moepeng said the prize giving ceremony was indeed and important milestone not only in the calendar of the school, but in that of their ever growing village.

She stated that through that event, the Tonota community got to appreciate progress being made with regards to nurturing Botswana`s future leaders from their own home.

Ms Moepeng noted that one of the challenges in ensuring utmost realisation of great performance at schools was that more often, the role of coaching and guidance was left to teachers alone.

She encouraged students to make use of Internet to improve their performances, adding that with the Internet and libraries they do have free access to study material that could guide them beyond the classrooms.

For his part, the manager of Tonota Shoppers, Mr Basego Nketelela mentioned that it was a positive initiative as nowadays schools were run through the involvement of the Student’s Representative Councils which are  efficient and effective. 

He encouraged students who did not do well not to give up as it was not the end of the world because it was never too late to work harder to achieve their goals in life.

Mr Nketelela applauded those that have excelled in academics, sports and leadership to keep it up, adding that education was a vital part of their lives so there was a need for joint effort between students, teachers and parents for improved results.

He said the purpose of prize giving ceremony was to motivate students who excel academically, in sports and leadership and encouraged them to take sports seriously because sports could create employment for them in future.

In her welcoming remarks, the school head Ms Julia Mangole said although they were celebrating the day, they encountered some challenges in school such as shortage of staff, student’s bad behaviour and lack of resources as well as teenage pregnancy.

Ms Mangole also complained about parents who drag their feet in  PTA meetings and urged them to unite and do more to beat the target of 87 per cent set by the Ministry of Education and Skills and Development. Ends