31 Mar 2016

Gaborone City Council has called for the inclusion of morality issues in the educational system for Vision 2036

Speaking at the ongoing council meeting, the councillor for Moselewapula ward, Mr Tonic Bonang said the educational system which allows students to pass from one level to another without good performance was not a good.

Cllr Bonang said it was a disgrace that children progress to higher levels without even knowing how to write their name.

He pointed out that the children end up with a certificate but a doomed future.

Sharing the same sentiments, Cllr Mesheck Kebeileng of Marang-Tsholofelo East ward challenged the education system to use mother tongue for teaching, especially in primary schools.

He said the government needs to make education more inclusive by introducing mother tongue as the medium of instruction in primary schools where Setswana was a second language.

Cllr Kebeileng argued that children from communities that did not speak Setswana as a first language must be taught in their language, saying they would be able to perform well.

He also argued that children understood and learned better when taught in their mother tongue.

He said the present practice where English and Setswana were used as mediums of instruction marginalised speakers of minority languages.

Furthermore, he said it disadvantaged them in accessing opportunities, resources, employment and prevented them from participating in the political process.

He added that while Botswana’s language policy regarded linguistic and cultural diversity as a threat rather than a resource, research on indigenous and mother tongue education confirmed that bilingual, bicultural and biliteracy programmes empowered communities.

Another councillor, Mr Oarabile Motlaleng of Ditlakaneng ward called for the introduction of community radio stations, saying the concerned groups of people would be able to understand what was going on around the world without having to translate to their mother tongue to understand better.

Councillors also bemoaned moral and social degeneration, saying Vision 2036 needs to act on them.

Cllr Tidimalo Thungthung of Boikhutso ward said children nowadays were disrespectful to their elders and called for the restoration of Botswana’s culture, adding that it must start with the restoration of moral ethics.

She lamented that Batswana have ignored minor errors to the detriment of society, adding that habitual conduct has graduated into pathological behaviour.

“Today, our youth indulge in shameful behaviour, they kiss in public to the disgust of elders. We also kissed during our days, but our elders would not see us,” she lamented

Councillors were giving ideas after the Vision 2036 task team had consulted and requested them to share ideas that need to be incorporated into the Vision 2036.

The Vison 2036 team is expected to have concluded the draft vision document by May 2016, which would be endorsed by the National Assembly during its July/August 2016 sitting and be launched in September 2016 when the current national vision comes to an end. ENDS