09 Apr 2017

Adopting an excellence strategy is critical to success in education, Sir Seretse Memorial Junior Secondary School headmaster, Mr Mmoloki Moreo said during the school’s victory party at Travel Lodge on April 7.

Speaking at the school’s victory party, Mr Moreo said the school which attained fourth position nationwide in the 2016 JCE results ran with the theme: Academic focus, A key to excellence, which everybody in the school lived by.

“Students, teachers and the staff were motivated enough. They didn’t need to be pushed. Everybody chose to set the bar higher,” he said.

He said the school, which had set itself a 70 per cent pass rate target, and reached a near hit target at 63.8 per cent target, hence the need to celebrate the milestone.

He noted that the school had been doing well as in 2014 it achieved 64.4 per cent and it was number 26 nationwide, in 2015 the results dropped to 56.4 per cent at position 16 nationwide, while in 2016 the school picked and achieved 63.8 per cent pass rate which placed the school at position four.

He noted that the results did not come cheap as students, teachers and parents exuded higher levels of commitment to the school theme which was centered on academic focus.

“Staff members were so motivated that they did not demand overtime pay, but set out to deliver with great zeal,” he noted.

He explained that the secret to the school’s success was a strategy that saw parents and staff introducing quality assurance protocols, guided tours of parents to their children’s projects and close monitoring of students projects by parents.

Furthermore, he said there were volunteer mentors for subjects such as mathematics and supervised morning study which attracted no overtime which commenced at 6:30am.

Other targets were Aces club which mentored students who were admitted with A’s to maintain ‘A’ grade and support by stakeholders, he said, adding that the government initiative of ‘Adopt a School’ has also helped and members of the private sector have come forth to assist.

For his part, Dr Antony Joseph, who is director of Gaborone University College of Law and Professional Studies, said education was the engine of the economy, hence the need to sharpen its focus in order to remain competitive globally.

“We need to ensure that the curriculum meets the industry requirements. We need to create new jobs and new opportunities,” he stated.

He said education was a culture that prepares young people for adult life, hence the need to cultivate morally right character traits in young people. ENDS