28 Nov 2018

A believe that to start a private school one needs to have financial muscle has seen some Batswana drag their feet or having no interest in venturing into businesses.

However a Kanye couple of Mr Bareng Moahi and wife Dr Serara Moahi are a living prove that when driven by passion everything is possible and are pursuing the idea of a private school with everything they have to ensure that Batswana are part of a legacy worth remembering.

As we visited the secondary school to meet Mr and Dr Moahi, the duo together with a group of experts, were assessing their newly built Maranatha Academy of Excellence Secondary School which started operating in January this year.

In an interview, Dr Moahi said while she and her husband were still employed, they sat down and planned for survival upon retirement. During that time, she said they both then agreed to start an early childhood school by refurbishing their residential house in conformity with council standards.

She said they were motivated by discussions emanating from many conferences she attended and how nations were encouraged to inject more funding in setting up pre-schools. “We wanted to do something that was close to our heart, and establishing a pre-school was one of them,” she explained. She said they started with seven pupils mostly from their relatives. From 2010 to date, she said their pre-school grew from having just seven pupils to around 160.

Early childhood education, she said, played a critical role in moulding the character of pupils, assisting them to develop their social skills and to be able to confidently interact with their peers. After three years of running the school, Dr Moahi said parents then approached them and pleaded with them to consider opening a primary school. 

“Parents are the ones who planted that seed in us. Having acquired a school plot in 2012, we then decided to build a primary school which started operating in 2013,” she explained. She said currently, the school caters for pupils mostly from Kanye, Moshupa, Thamaga, Jwaneng and Ranaka, including children of parents working around Kanye.

Quizzed on how they started their business, Mr Moahi explained that they invested in buying shares from local commercial banks and other listed businesses to raise funds towards the project. “You need some capital to start this kind of business. We had P2.1 million worth of shares. But after the recession hit us in 2008, we were left with P1.8 million. That is how we raised some of the capital,” he explained. Dr Moahi described her school, Maranatha, which is loosely translated to ‘Jesus is coming,’ as being unique in that it emphasises Christian principles.

Furthermore, she said throughout the day, it engages pupils in a number of activities to build their character such as learning how to pray in class and reciting text from the Bible, public presentation at assemblies, and work on developing pupils wholly. “The heart is for spiritual development, head is for academic development and that the hand is for work related skill development. By touching these three aspects of a human being, you have addressed the pupils wholly,” she stated.

She said Maranatha, like any other school, faced challenges such as shortage of teachers, better pay structure from other institutions causing teachers to relocate for betters pastures. She said despite the challenges, the school continued to excel, and that in 2016 they obtained 96 per cent in PLSE while in 2017 they recorded 100 per cent pass rate.

She commended government for assisting and collaborating with the school.

As for school fees, pre-school parents are parting with P2 100 per term, Standard One to Three, P3 900, Standard Four to Seven pay P4 000 while at secondary school fees are P6 500 per term.

Primary school enrolment stands at 440 pupils while at secondary it is 12. She said the ultimate goal was to include vocational training in the curriculum to equip learners with hands on skills.

Dr Moahi said she believed the Maranatha school curriculum would graduate learners who would be responsible adults, high achievers and ambitious individuals who valued education.  She further advised Batswana who wanted to venture into owning private schools to believe in what they wanted to do and be passionate informed on the journey they wanted to take.

Dr Moahi is doctoral degree (Phd) graduate who has taught for about eight years and has also worked as an executive secretary for Botswana Examination Council (BEC) from 2006 until she retired in October 2013.

Mr Moahi, is a hospital administration masters programme graduate and has worked for National Development Bank, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Botswana Housing Corporation and Air Botswana among others. He was also chief executive officer at Kanye Seventh Day Adventist Hospital until retirement in 2012. ENDS