23 May 2018

In a bid to promote an educated and informed nation, Dr Ronald Tshelametsi pledged P5 000 to Ikongwe Primary School during the annual Mahalapye sub-region excellence awards recently.

Dr Tshelametsi did not only applaud the best performers and performing schools, but also urged the department to identify worst performing schools and seek the root causes of their poor performance.

In his keynote address, Dr Tshelametsi said Batswana should learn to put more emphasise in all that they do, stating that it was a powerful tool of success when done at the right time.

Dr Tshelametsi implored winners to celebrate their success with responsibility and not to forget the future. He also said celebrating should make them work even harder to keep up the standard.

With reference to the results of the school, he appealed to all the stakeholders not to forget the worst performing schools.

Dr Tshelametsi, who is currently a volunteer mathematics teacher at Maoka Junior School, said pledging the money to Ikongwe as one of the least performing schools would help the school to perform better.

“I pledge P5 000 to Ikongwe as a seed,” he said.

He further said he would join hands with his team to come up with plans to help the school to succeed. “I do believe that Ikongwe Primary School will be our best institution of education,” he said.

Chief education officer, Ms Maria Dikeme said the Mahalapye region was not only the biggest region in the Central District, but also the biggest region in the whole country.

She also raised concern that both junior and senior schools were not doing well academically and failed to score above the 50 per cent pass rate.

She applauded the determination of the excellence awards committee for working through difficulties and striving to give such the occasion some meaningful purpose.

The chairperson of the excellence awards, Ms Gloria Monnayoo said although the committee struggled financially, they went as far as using their money to ensure that the occasion became successful.

In response to the chief education officer’s concern of poor results, Ms Monnayoo said the awards were another way of trying to improve results by motivating employees and pupils to strive for the best results.

Ms Monnayoo commended government for taking the responsibility of buying all the gifts.

The awards covered categories of best performing pupils from primary, junior and senior schools.

Teachers were also awarded for their devotion to work. Non-teaching employees were also honoured for their efforts.

As for the top three performing primary schools, Moineedi from Taupye came first followed by Flowertown from Mahalapye while Thabakanaka from Chadibe came third.

In the category of junior secondary schools, Sefhare came first, position two went to Mosikare from Machaneng and Pekenene from Mahalapye followed in third.

For senior secondary schools in the region being Madiba and Shoshong, the former performed better.

Dr Tshelametsi praised the efforts of the organising committee for showing commitment and perseverance to the extent of using their personal funds towards the success of the awards. ENDS