25 Aug 2016

Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development Mr Fidelis Molao has said the government of Botswana continues to make good investment by providing quality education to its people.

Speaking during North East Region Excellence Awards Ceremony at Montsamaisa Junior School on August 24, he said education was an investment at both personal and community level and it also empowered individual and the society to be more productive.

He explained that he came to witness, appreciate and recognise the good performance of members of staff and students of those schools.

In addition Mr Molao said the occasion offered a motivating scenario to those students aspiring to go to junior and senior secondary schools.

He said  this should go a long way in motivating their teachers and students to work extra hard to improve academic performance, and also motivates parents to play an active role and support their children in their education.

Mr Molao said if students and employees whose performance was outstanding were recognised and rewarded, their performance would improve.

The day was celebrated under the theme: 50 Years and Beyond in Educating the Nation: An Endeavour to have Prosperity and Sustainable Development for All.

Mr Molao said the theme was challenging, considering the current global economic trend therefore said they were challenged to make sure that as schools, and indeed as a nation, they strove for excellence in everything in order to be globally competitive.

Furthermore he said schools were judged by their academic performance, and pupils behaviour and teachers were considered as role models by the students and the public, therefore they had a major responsibility of imparting knowledge, skills and above all, moulding students to be responsible citizens.

He applauded members of staff parents and teachers of schools which excelled in the year 2015, such as Ikhutsheng primary school which preformed exceptionally well as compared to other primary schools in Francistown, Pelotshwaana primary school which was the most improved primary in 2015, and Montsamaisa JSS which scooped top position at 60.1 per cent and became the most improved junior secondary school.

Assistant Minister stated that members at the above mentioned schools did their best by continuing to set reasonable targets, standards and worked hard to maintain the good performance of their institutions and that should be done by all institutions to excel in the future.

He said even though the initiatives of excellence awards was the brain child of the government, it was important for everyone to note that the Ministry of Education and Skills Development  regarded these as community initiatives, hence in future parents and members of the community would be requested to sponsor and donate towards excellence awards ceremonies.

Meanwhile, the school head of Montsamaisa JSS Mr Fanyana Ntaise said despite the challenges they faced in  the school they posted good results due to commitment.

Mr Ntaise mentioned that they experienced shortage of infrastructure, lack of sporting facility noting that the school had 806 students, 60 teachers, 21 non-teaching staff, and one Tirelo Setshaba participant.

Mr Ntaise said vandalism also was a serious concern in his school, 12 classrooms have no windows and doors while toilets seats particularly for the boys were broken. Ends