17 May 2016

Minister of Education and Skills Development (MoESD) Dr Unity Dow says it is crucial for school management to follow the right procedures when meting out corrective measures to students.

Speaking with teaching and non-teaching members of Moeng College in a series of meetings she held to devise the best ways of bettering education, Dr Dow reminded teachers about their mandate, encouraging them to balance corrective measures with teaching. 

Dr Dow called for consistency in punitive actions against students, arguing that lack of consistency could result in schools losing cases against students and ultimate loss of credibility. She said that students and parents who identify loopholes could appeal and win their cases based on precedence set on previous cases. 

The minister challenged the school management that before suspending or expelling a student, they should ensure that they had the power to mete out the action, inform the concerned parties, students and parents amongst a host of procedural events to be followed. 

Dr Dow was responding to complaints from some teachers at the school about misconduct by some students. Teachers enumerated incidents in which some students were suspended for bad behavior but, such actions were short-lived following interventions from the top management at the ministry. 

Their contention was that such students were perpetual failures who hardly scored academic points but their corrective actions were despised. 

Some of the misconducts in question were engaging in sexual activities as well as taking to drugs. Such incidents reportedly were handed to police for investigations and intervention. 

On other burning issues, Dr Dow addressed staff on students’ pregnancies, saying statistics were quite alarming. At Moeng College, three students have already dropped out of school this year due to pregnancy. 

The minister opined that many of the students were impregnated by elderly  men and the acts usually occur during the long breaks and festive seasons. She observed that it was disheartening that many of the perpetrators would abandon the child and its mother resulting in the young mother quitting school to fend for her baby. 

“What are you going to do as a Motswana adult to ensure that young girls are not impregnated by these old men?” she asked rhetorically. ENDS