02 May 2018

Ministry of Basic Education will continue initiatives to address emerging issues in society in order to produce morally upright young people who can contribute to the development of the country.

Giving a keynote address at the end of a two-week life skills boot camp, basic education assistant minister, Mr Thato Kwerepe said the initiatives would include strengthening school guidance programmes, conducting boot camps, providing counselling services and promoting youth-friendly services within communities.

The boot camp, which was organised by the Department of Education in Ngamiland in collaboration with Love Botswana Outreach Mission, was held under the theme: I am a Promise and I am a Possibility. It attracted students from all junior schools in Maun and Maun Senior Secondary School.

He noted that challenges needed collective efforts and that the ministry and stakeholders would continue to address evolving challenges within the society.

He said it was imperative for the ministry to continue engaging parents, non-governmental organisations, sport bodies and all to take part in grooming children into responsible citizens.

Mr Kwerepe highlighted that alcohol and drug abuse, indiscipline, bullying, lack of seriousness in school work, crime and intimate relations among students and HIV/AIDS were issues of concern, which needed to be addressed if they were to produce responsible future leaders.

He said alcohol and substance abuse appeared to be one of the major obstacles in the ministry’s efforts to provide quality education and address emerging issues.

“As the ministry, we will not give up, but rather we will continue to commit the resources to all strategies, which will curb the use of drugs and substances among learners,” he said.

He said through the boot camps, they would see a change of mindset and disciplined responsible young people.

To graduates, Mr Kwerepe said their graduation gave them hope that they had planted seeds which would bear fruits in the future.

He told graduates that they were agents of change, and that they had a role to play at their respective schools.

He also pleaded with them to focus on their studies and maintain high standards of discipline. He thanked organisers for arranging the event for the benefit of students.

For her part, Love Botswana Outreach Mission managing director, Dr Ditshupo Selepeng explained that the organisation was a brainchild of Dr Jerry and Jana Lackey’s family.

She described it as a pioneering organisation and a growing and developing ministry that focused on equipping indigenous leaders to effectively reach their communities for Christ. ENDS