13 Mar 2018

Chobe District Council chairperson, councillor Paul Chabaesele has implored all stakeholders in the district to collaborate with the Ministry of Basic Education (MoBE) towards the improvement of academic performance in the district.

Speaking at the ministry’s ‘taking services to the people’ session on March 12, Councilllor Chabaesele expressed the need to complement government’s efforts of offering quality education to all.

Councillor Chabaesele appealed to the private sector and individuals to play a role in the region’s education by adopting schools. He applauded Botswana Defence Force, Chobe Land Board, Isaac Attorneys and Chobe Game Lodge for adopting some schools in the region and implored others to emulate them. Councillor Chabaesele said secondary schools such as Chobe and Liswaani were faced with challenges such as shortage of classrooms, hostels and beds.

He however said the ministry was working towards addressing the problem of hostels at Chobe secondary, but the kitchen was still a challenge. Mr Chabaesele commended the region for organising the event, saying it would advance the engagement of stakeholders in the education system. He also commended them for addressing kgotla meetings throughout the district.

He said education should not be viewed as the responsibility of teachers alone and urged all stakeholders to guard against airing their views on social media saying such could disturb the education of the children. He said  he is looking forward to the district making improvement in the process towards academic excellence. Regional director (operations), Ms Lillian Matshameko said the objectives of the day were to bring services to the people and educate the public on the ministry’s different departments and share with the public how the region has been performing academically.

She said stakeholders should not only be involved after the release of results, but should be part of the daily operations of the education system. Ms Matshameko said the event would also create opportunity for stakeholders to come up with ideas on how the ministry could  improve on its services and to also showcase how students could earn a living from the skills they acquired from schools.

Proposing a vote of thanks, regional PTA chairperson, Ms Victor Liwena said education was an important sector of the economy as it provided skills for other sectors. He applauded the district’s partnership in the education of the district.

Mr Liwena said in the last year’s PSLE results the region scooped position four, adding that with the involvement of all stakeholders the region was capable of scooping the first position. ENDS