07 Feb 2016

In an effort to revive culture and educate children about societal ethos, Botswelelo Primary School in Maun is in the process of building a culture centre.

This was said by the school’s senior teacher, Omphile Botani in an interview recently.

 He said the school management last year initiated a motion on the construction of a culture centre after realising that most pupils were not familiar with different materials pertaining to culture.

He said they met with the Parents Teachers Association (PTA) to sell them their idea and they welcomed it.

Botani also noted that they were able to seek help from the council which also helped them with sketch plans and the type of materials to be used for the project.

The culture centre compromises a kgotla, courtyard, serala (traditional harvest storage) and leobo (shelter) which will be fully equipped with traditional equipment such as clay pots and traditional mats and other ornaments which were used by different tribes in the past.

Botani said the centre would benefit pupils, especially in subjects such as cultural and social studies across all classes and would remain useful to them.

Furthermore, he said they made efforts together with the PTA committee and the community to raise funds for the project.

“Our culture centre is a joint project from teachers, parents, pupils and other supporters,” said Botani, adding that they have managed to raise P20 000, but that the money was still not sufficient.

He said after raising some funds they held meetings and planned in relation to buying the building materials and building the centre.

He said despite challenges they faced such as delays from people building the centre, they were not demotivated but held their heads up. He said building materials were expensive, and that they also faced lack of transport for collection of materials from suppliers.

In addition the head teacher, Reginah Dinonyane said she was so proud to lead a school with people who were innovative and cooperative. She noted that other schools within the region were looking forward to gaining more experience and learning from them.

She explained that the centre was built from both traditional and modern materials. The roundavel house is thatched with grass. Ms Dinonyane said they used oxide for the colour of its walls, and that its texture resembles culture though they did not use cow dung. Traditional materials such as mophane logs were used to make a kgotla.

“Seeing is believing, so it is going to be an easy thing for pupils to know more about our traditional culture through all the props found within the culture centre,” the head teacher noted

She said they intend to officially open the centre after its completion, and said they were looking forward for any kind of support from the community. Ends