03 Nov 2015

The principal of Tswapong Bokone brigade, Mr Cornelius Matlhare, has encouraged Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) students to further their studies.

Speaking at a price giving ceremony for  Tswapong Bokone brigade in Lerala recently, Mr Matlhare said students should take advantage of a dispensation that allowed brigade students to have access to universities and colleges of higher learning even if they entered brigade with a junior certificate qualification.

He said many had in the past shied away from the brigades because progression to the universities was unheard of.

He, however, said vocational education made it easy for a person to access government programmes. 

Mr Matlhare said many of the graduates from the brigades had found jobs in the public and private sectors.

They continuied to replace foreigners who used to man the technical sectors of the economy starting from TVET institutions themselves.

“As we speak, Tswapong Bokone Brigade boasts of 100 per cent citizen staff,” he said.

Mr Matlhare informed the attendants that Tswapong Bokone Brigade intended to introduce crop farming course in 2017 and extensive consultation with farmers could help ensure that students were trained in the right skills.

He said farmers would help them identify the skills to be taught so as to avoid skills mismatch.

He said farmers could provide attachment to trainees and open their farms for use as learning centres by providing guided tours of their farming operations.

“This is the kind of participation that we aspire to foster through relationships developed through occasions such as this one,” he said.

He said people should contribute to the education of Botswana youth for them to participate meaningfully to the development of the country. 

He said it took a village to raise a child and all were important stakeholders in the child raising process called vocational education.

He further said the enrollment capacity of his brigade was 220, but the current enrollment stood at 175 despite the fact that they always enrolled maximum numbers in all programmes at all times.

He, however, said the decline in numbers is brought about by a number of factors which include among others; finding jobs during the period of study, finding vacancies in the institutions of higher learning, deserting and to a lesser extent pregnancies.

Mr Matlhare further said of late, the performance of his institution in national examinations left much to be desired because it used to be a high performing institution from which other institutions aspired to benchmark.

He stated that while poor performance was widespread in TVET institutions, knowledge of such did not mitigate the circumstances of his institution because the numbers trainees that failed the national examinations were not a static.      

He said he was hopeful that prize giving days would play their part in motivating the learners and lectures to up their game.

He said he is also hopeful that through prize giving ceremonies, the myths about brigades and vocational education will be dispelled and debunked and this should ensure a surge on the quality of the intake of his institution and indeed in the enrollment figures. Ends