03 Jul 2017

Director of Basic Education, Mr Ndondo Koolese said his ministry had come to a realisation that educating a nation was a huge responsibility and therefore needed organisations to come on board and partner with and help them in delivering basic education to Batswana.

Speaking at the Ministry of Basic Education stakeholder seminar meant to celebrate a breakthrough in English Literacy Training, Mr Koolese expressed gratitude to Stepping Stones International (SSI) for being one of the organisations to respond to their plea.

He said the immense contribution made by SSI saw them mobilising more partnerships such as the University of Utah Training Clinic in the USA, where graduates from the Out of School Education Training (OSET) underwent an intensive English literacy programme to obtain their six Master Credits from the university.

For her part, the director of Stepping Stones International, Ms Lisa Jamu said during one of the literacy training, OSET had trained 40 supervisors and 280 educators.

In addition, three people were trained, underwent 45 sessions and were formally observed six times each then they had to co-train other educators while being formally observed as trainers.

“Some of the schools had made gains and the individual learners were advancing in the classes, where teachers were fully implementing. It is critical for the teachers who were trained to continue using the programme in school as it complements our English curriculum,” she said.

Giving his testimony of success, one of the programme participants, Mr Emmanuel Kenosi praised the literacy programme, reiterating that it had changed a lot in him.

He said the programme ‘boosted his confidence’ as he was now able to express himself well and communicate with his children as well as his students in English.

Other participants of the literacy programme, who were honoured and awarded certificates were Ms Johanna Morwe, Ms Changu Pagiwa and Ms Constance Mogara, who were urged to impart the skills they gained from the training to benefit the nation. ENDS