10 Jul 2017

Mr Rafik Sardar, the World Group of Companies and Serowe Builders World have been  commended for donating school uniform and goodies to 712 children attending school at Serule Primary School.

Assistant Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security, Mr Kgotla Autlwetse appreciated the efforts, saying the donation would motivate children to attend school.
“Some children do not have proper school uniform or even school shoes.

This makes them feel out of place or inferior to others and they end up not coming to school.

The uniform will boost their self-esteem as they will consider themselves equal to other children in the school,” he said.

During the handover of gifts to children and their parents, Mr Autlwetse thanked the donors for the good gesture, explaining that some children did not have the school attire as their parents did not have the means to purchase items in full.

Mr Autlwetse, who is also MP for Serowe North, said luckily when he shared his concern with Mr Sardar, his longtime friend and businessman, he offered to assist.

“Mr Sarder, who is chairperson of World Group of Companies used his resources to buy a full school uniform for the pupils,” he said.

The uniform includes two shirts for each child, two pairs of trousers and socks for each boy and a pair of trousers and a skirt for each girl, two vests and three underwear pairs for each child, one swearter and a pair of shoes as well as a packet of sweets.

He mentioned that this year alone to date, Mr Sardar had donated the same items to 6 921 children from primary schools in the constituency.

He noted that the move demonstrated compassion and love for fellow Batswana. He urged parents to take care of the children’s uniform.

Acting school head, Ms Goitseone Gabakgore said the donations would have a positive impact in the lives of the children.

She however mentioned that challenges were still experienced at the school including the dilapidated infrastructure, which needed some renovations.

Further, she said the school did not have an administration or teachers’ block.

She also decried shortage of classrooms in that the school had 19 classes and only 16 classrooms.

She said shortage of accommodation for teachers was another factor because they had 23 teachers and 19 non-teaching staff and only eight school houses.

For her part, chief education officer in the Tonota South region, Ms Milidzani Nduna shared the sentiments as Mr Autlwetse, noting that the school uniform would make children feel equal, as such they would be motivated to attend school and do well.

She also encouraged teachers to do their best in teaching children despite challenges.

During the event, teachers, non-teaching staff and the village kgosi all received a blanket each from Serowe Builders World. ENDS