26 May 2016

The Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development Mr Fidelis Molao has implored parents to take part in their children’s education.

Speaking during a kgotla meeting in Mochudi on Wednesday, Mr Molao said education was a three legged pot that needed concerted efforts from all stakeholders including  the child, parent and teacher for better results in academic performance.

He said his ministry was worried about the low performance results in schools and they had found out that it was mainly due to lack of participation by parents in their children’s education.

The Assistant Minister said drugs and substance abuse continue to have a major impact on students’ performance.

He advised parents to always check their children’s bags to find out what they have inside because some of them do drugs.

Mr Molao further said children usually took advantage of parents who neglected their studies. 

Mr Molao also urged parents to check their children’s school work so that the child got used to being checked on hence they get serious with their school work.

He said parents should visit schools and meet with teachers to see how they could help and address the needs of their children.

The Assistant Minister further said his ministry was challenged with shortage of resources which had to be distributed among the departments in the ministry.

Mr Molao said they are taking care of 626 000 students in government schools with the highest number at primary school level standing at 418 000 with each student costing around P3970 per year, junior school level 119512 with each student costing P17 342 per year and senior school level at 53000, each student costing P17 278 per year.

He added that a university or college student costs government P64 000 per year and those doing medicine cost P80 000 per student per year.

The Assistant Minister said the money went into the school materials, food and others that were needed for school administration.

He said “this shows how much government spends on students and how expensive it is hence they must take their education very seriously.”

Mr Molao emphasised how important it was for parents to take part in their child’s education because if students failed they would have wasted government money and parents would now be forced to pay for them to progress in their education.