16 Feb 2016

Education is the pillar and contributor to the economy of any country, says former public servant and businessman Mr Elvis Mhlaudi.

Mr Mhlaudi was speaking during the MOSHOKGA excellence awards ceremony in Shoshong.

MOSHOKGA is an initiative designed by Shoshong South councillor Mr Gaoresepe Mhutsiwa for the three village primary schools being Mokibe, Shoshong and Kgamane to work together towards a common goal in the village to encourage and persuade parents, business community and other stakeholders in Shoshong to actively participate in their children’s education.

He said as a country that strives to develop its people through education, Botswana should take it seriously and ensure that there was unlimited access of pupils to their teachers.

He said limiting teachers’ time with pupils might hinder them from achieving this goal therefore; there should be a sound and selective system that produces the best administration.

He explained that research showed that having a good and strong leadership in the education sector could help in attaining this goal.

Mr Mhlaudi said teachers were educationists while parents were educators, so their role in the education sector could not be overlooked as parents were the foundation of ensuring that their children take education serious.

He noted that for the education sector to function well and bear fruitful results, parents should be hands on in their children’s education by making sure that they love and enjoy going to school and were eager to learn.

He said also for the education sector to reap good results there should be a competitive spirit between schools for them to perform better, hence the objectives of this initiative.

He said teachers and the village leadership should be one unit that strives to develop and nurture children into having the spirit of learning.

Mr Mhlaudi said this could be a very challenging task but its results were tangible and were good for the development and economy of the country.

He applauded Mr Mhutsiwa and the three primary schools for coming together and making the initiative a success because all it required was team work.
Further, he encouraged the people of Shoshong to support this initiative, embrace and support it as it would bring in good results for their constituency and the country as a whole.

The theme of the event was ‘Stakeholder participation towards academic excellence’.

When outlining the objectives of the event, Mr Mhutsiwa said he was concerned about the declining and low performance rate of primary schools across the country and Shoshong village hence the dream which he shared with the teachers in the three schools.

He said this led to the establishment of the MOSHOKGA Excellence awards committee in 2015, adding that they then decided to have the three primary schools competing every year with their standard VII classes which completed the PSLE.

He said they planned to award certificates and price to learners, best performing teachers and overall best performing primary school to boost and activate the deteriorating morale noted in their schools.

For his part, the area MP also Assistant Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration Mr Dikgang Makgalemele, applauded the MOSHOKGA committee for a job well done.

He said the event was to appreciate and honor those who have done well and to continue with the good work.

He encouraged parents to be role models, motivate their children to work harder and take their education seriously adding that he was also mobilising successful young professionals, who graduated from those primary schools to take part, motivate and inspire their younger sisters and brothers so  that they could also become responsible and disciplined individuals. Ends