07 Sep 2016

 The Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development Mr Fidelis Molao says the ministry’s budget constraint has resulted in a serious backlog of improving the education facilities and system.

During a consultative meeting with MAA/Lentsweletau regional education staff in Molepolole recently, Mr Molao said despite the challenges, the ministry gets the lion’s share of the national budget therefore the public expected better results from the ministry.

He said institutions were mandated to use every little resource they have in order to improve results, adding that it was important that they meet and share ideas on how they can improve the education system. Furthermore, he said the budget allocated to the ministry was not sufficient due to a large number of employees, adding that the ministry runs at a deficit and this hampers the budget to stabilise.

When briefing the assistant minister, most of the staff complained of lack of maintenance of the education facilities in the MAA/Lentsweletau region saying it disturbed the teaching and learning environment as well as demotivating learners and teachers.

Besides shortage of staff accommodation and dilapidated facilities, lack and shortage of resources like text books, stationery, computers and inconsistent supply of food in schools was also said to contribute to student’s poor performance.

For her part, chief education officer, Ms Rosalind Serumola said the region experienced high rate of school dropouts in remote areas because pupils walked long distances to school.

She however said grades were gradually improving, saying Kgari Sechelle II School which is the only senior school in the region improved by 8.9 per cent for its 2015 BGCSE results. She said the region has the highest number of schools and should therefore produce outstanding results.

In her remarks, chairperson of secondary school heads in MAA/Lentsweletau Ms Boitshoko Selema raised concern of indiscipline in some students which she said contributed to their poor performance.

However, regional education director, Mr Benson Rauwe urged teachers to identify such students and help them through the guidance and counseling programme. ENDS