18 Oct 2015

Lehutshelo Junior Secondary School management has been urged to resolve their conflicts and focus on creating a good working relationship for the benefit of learners.

The Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development, Mr Moiseraela Goya, called for a mediation meeting on Friday (October 16) after it surfaced during a kgotla meeting in Hukuntsi that both the school head and his deputy did not see eye to eye something which the residents cited as a major contributing factor to the school’s poor academic results.

A community representative, Mr Nelson Moncho, indicated that the community at some point appointed a task force to retrospect the key areas that led to the poor performance and it was established that there had been constant misunderstandings between the school head and his deputy.

The constant variances between the two parties, he said, had created a hostile working environment within the school. He said it also surfaced that the conflict between the two had led to critical aspects of education such as students and teachers’ welfare not being attended to due to lack of  consultation by the school management.

He stated that the situation had been going on for long as confirmed by the school management team members and regional education authorities.

In response, the assistant minister pled with both the school head and his deputy to settle their differences and work together towards promoting workplace unity.

As the top school management, he said it was upon the two parties to create a strong working bond and cascade the bond down to the entire staff. 

He said it was disappointing to note that Lehutshelo emerged at the bottom of the least performing schools in Kgalagadi despite that it was at some point the pride of the region academically. Mr Goya applauded the community for their concern towards the school’s poor performance and promised them that his ministry would do all it could to remedy the situation. Ends