17 Aug 2016

The Minister of Education and Skills Development (MoESD), Dr Unity Dow recently received nine students of Botswana National Student Union (BONUS), who were arriving from All Africa Students Union (AASU) 5^th Africa Student and Youth Summit which was held at Accra, Ghana.
The team, whose trip was sponsored by MoESD, brought home a pan African award in the category of best newcomer for this year's All Africa Students Union summit, in which Ghana and Gambia were also nominated.
According to the president of BONUS, Mr Thatayaone Ntwaetsile the nomination for the award was as a result of the visit to Botswana by the All Africa Students Union secretary general and his team in April this year, where he made an assessment of the Botswana national union of students' programmes, including their ability to intervene and reduce strikes in schools, their community outreach programmes, mass media interactions and  cordial relations with government.
He said they were delighted to have won the prize as it was a big milestone.
While deliberating on some of the point which they contributed on the debating competitions, held under the theme, Students Response to Climate Change And Implications For Food Security in Africa at the summit, Mr Ntwaetsile said, Botswana was very renowned in agriculture, of which there were concerns and challenges from farmers that the ploughing seasons have changed.
“We suggested that it was crucial for farmers to observe the weather conditions so as to inform and prepare themselves of the right time of ploughing”, he said.
He said they also explained that farmers in Africa needed to avoid rain fed plants and consider plants which could withstand the current drought situations.
Mr Ntwaetsile said they were satisfied with the working relationships which they had with MoESD, adding that they were looking forward to more assistance from the minister.
“We are thankful for the support made by MoESD, hence, we do not doubt the support that we are accorded by the ministry, neither could  be challenged by such effort in performing our duties. We are professionals in our own accord and we are continually going to express concerns and dissatisfaction where things are not done right by MoESD. We want the best for our students as well as the best for  MoESD to provide the services”, he said.
Mr Ntwaetsile said that as a way forward, they were planning of touring Southern Africa to educate the youth about climate change, bring up research efforts and solutions to remedy the current harsh climatic condition, which was a major concern in the entire continent. ENDS