25 Oct 2016

The long-awaited Gerald Junior Secondary School will open in January next year.

Speaking after touring the school, recently, Assistant Minister of Basic Education Mr Moiseraele Goya commended the company constructing the school for working tirelessly to provide what is needed to the community and the government.

He said his visit was to check on the projects status. Mr Goya said it is their duty as leaders to see to it that all projects are done accordingly, noting that the construction of the junior secondary school was awarded to a 100 per cent Motswana owned company at P118 million and the tender for the teachers houses for that school was also awarded to a local company for P15 million.

He said some of the issues were omitted in the plan such as supplies office and the school warehouse , adding they will try to request some funds from his ministry to address the situation but in the meantime they can request assistance from Francistown College of Technical and Vocational Education (FCTVE) if anything goes wrong.

Mr Goya said the construction of the school in Gerald is undoubtedly their biggest achievement as the ministry who is going to address some of the challenges faced by the students and the community of Gerald.

He also visited other ESP projects in Tlhalogang JSS, in Borolong village, Chamabona in Mathangwane village as well as John Nswazwi JSS in Marapong village to see their progress.

Mr Goya spoke agaist some  Batswana companies that do shoddy work especially those doing maintenance.

He suggested that such companies in future should be denied tenders because they cannot keep on awarding tenders to unproductive companies that provide poor quality work.

In Marapong and Borolong the projects were very much pleasing but they had some challenges of lack of water.

Superintendent of works in North East region Mr Ishmael Othusitse said some of the challenges they faced include depending on Central region in Serowe for resources making it hard for them to achieve their goal.

He suggested that the region be separated from Serowe so that they stand on their own for efficient delivery to the community as well as on the progression of projects.

With the issue of poor maintenance in Chamabona JSS, he noted that they will address the issue before it got out of hand with the project owner to fix all locks and doors that were not joined. ENDS