31 May 2016

Underperforming school heads will be shown the door, Assistant Minister of Education and skills Development, Mr Moiseraela Goya warned educators on May 27 in Letlhakane.

Speaking at Letlhakane Primary School victory party, Mr Goya said the move to expel underperforming school heads was to improve the quality of education because the fortunes of the nation were tied to the quality of educational institutions.

He said his ministry would carry out an analysis of results to determine the performance of schools, and that heads of underperforming schools would be dismissed.

 “If you are lucky you will be redeployed to another school but if you are unlucky you will be shown the door,” the junior minister warned unequivocally.

He said government was channeling a lot of funds into the ministry of education, in return, the same government, together with the community have high expectations from the ministry.

Mr Goya heaped Letlhakane Primary staff with praises for their effort that earned the school a pole position in the Boteti sub-district with 89 per cent during the 2015 Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE).

Former Letlhakane Primary School head, Mr Jacob Tshipo said his team and all stakeholders including parents had a two-year road map to turn around the performance of the school.

Mr Tshipo explained that he joined the school when it was on position 19 out of 25 schools with 63 per cent, and that, within his first year at the school they recorded a 76 per cent pass rate and got position 4.

“On our way to the top spot in the sub district with 89 per cent, we introduced unique comprehensive monitoring tools and motivated staff; deserving teachers were either promoted or upgraded,” he explained.

Former student, Koketso Gotsileng attributed their good performance to teachers’ commitment. She also thanked parents and non-teaching staff for their input in the success of the school.

In her welcome remarks, Letlhakane Primary School deputy head, Ms Patricia Supang called for the construction of at least two more class rooms to be used for orientation classes.

Ms Supang explained that since there were no extra classes they could only afford to orientate pupils for only six weeks when Standards Sevens would have closed.

She said the school was currently having 28 classrooms and the same number of class rooms, with 35-45 pupils per class.

 “A huge population does not discourage us because we are result oriented,” she told the assistant minister, adding that there was the challenge of lack of a photocopying machine.

After 2015 PSLE graduates had received their awards, the standards ones were also donated socks and hand-gloves courtesy of Ms Bashati Mathape, Ms Mmilidzi Mmatlakgomo and Ms Segopotso Phumodi.

Mr Goya hailed their gesture, saying government/public partnership towards education was important as the government could not achieve everything alone. Ends