15 Jun 2016

With concerns on the recent decline of both the Junior Certificate (JC) and Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE), Botswana is pinning its hopes on the introduced reception classes to help remedy the situation.

Since the introduction of the classes in 2012, most schools have welcomed the initiative with both hands to the extent that they have more than one class.

One of the schools that have embraced this initiative and utilising it to the maximum is Gobuamang Memorial School in Thamaga. Having produced 30 pupils who graduated from reception class last year, the school management is happy with the academic performance of those pupils at Standard one.

The reception class teacher, Ms Bame Wetshoetsile emphasised in an interview with BOPA that it is important to work well with reception class pupils as they are still young and need a lot of attention and love.

“These are the most delicate children and want to feel loved. They want a person who is experienced and not moody.  When dealing with them, their teachers should also bear in mind that they are still very young and developing and come from different family backgrounds and one needs to be patient and understanding,” she said.

Ms Wetshoetsile stated that a child who went through reception class is likely to peform much better than the one who didn’t, and that during reception, pupils are helped to get used to the school and classroom environment.

Furthermore, she emphasised that reception is the period where a pupil undergoes basic language development stages such as aligning words and speaking properly. 

“This is when pupils are taught the basics of education.     Our daily routine is such that every morning the pupils are taken to the playground to play as a way of exercising their bodies and warm up especially that this is the winter season. Exercising is vital for a child as it makes them alert and healthy,” she said.

Even though these classes are so important, Ms Wetshoetsile stated that they face a lot of challenges such as emphasis on the use of English language which the pupils are not used to. She stated that they try by all means to make it a culture that these pupils know that English language is vital.

“Most of them do not continue to speak English when they get home, and this is the main challenge because most households do not communicate in English, especially where the children stay with the elderly,” she said.

She advised that it is important for parents to make communicating in English a culture.  

She however, applauded parents for the continuous support and commitment on the initiative saying parents understand that there is shortage of stationery in the school and buy exercise books for the children.

“We are very happy to see parents cooperating with us as this is a reflection of support and care towards their children’s future,” she said.

Ms Mpho Letlhatshane, a Standard one teacher who is teaching pupils who went through reception expressed happiness stating that such pupils are easy to work with and grasp content with ease. She said reception classes convert raw material into usable goods. 

“This initiative makes our job simple as lower class teachers because the pupils come developed. We do not struggle and they also show in their work that they are developed and ready to proceed to the next standard,” she said. ENDS