22 Jan 2019

Deputy executive director at Botswana Accountancy (BAC) College Mr Oaitse Gabadire has advised students to take responsibility of who they aspire to become.

Giving a motivational address to 640 students who had completed a two-weeks back to school boot camp programme at Kgari Sechele Senior Secondary School on Friday, Mr Gabadire urged the graduates to do self introspection about their purpose in life.

He further admonished graduates who had been honoured with leadership awards to first take lead of their own lives before they could lead people, stating that leadership also came with accepting and taking responsibility of their lives.

“In order to become a great leader, you must first become a great listener,” he said. The school head teacher, Mr Lapologang Kolagano said out of the initial 786 students that had enrolled for the boot camp, only 640 students successfully completed the two week-camp while four were not able to graduate.

Mr Kolagano revealed that during the camp only two students experienced health complications and were returned home. “We, however, had medical practitioners throughout the duration of the camp to assist should the need arise,” he said.

He said keeping in line with the Ministry of Basic Education’s core mandate with regard to the school boot camp programme, the main objective was to ensure that character building education was one of the major components during the camp.

“Focus was on addressing student’s problems like drug addiction and misbehaving of students. Some of the students came forward to confess and seek assistance on issues that were delaying their learning progress like smoking in the toilets during lessons,” he said

In addition, Mr Kolagano reiterated that as a way of innovating and collaborating other strategies to employ towards strengthening students’ character building, they focused on promoting the social, intellectual, emotional, ethical, moral and spiritual development of  students.

Presenting an overview of the camp, programme commissioner, Mr Kruger Kareng explained that the boot camp was aimed to develop and mould student’s behaviour inside and outside the classroom.

He said as a way of achieving their objective of making students aware of their leadership skills and intelligence, they divided students into groups with leaders appointed to lead the different groups. He went on to stress the importance of cooperation between parents and teachers to achieve the set mandate of the boot camp.

“The only way we are going to achieve the set outcomes of the boot camp is when students are no longer using drugs and no parents are selling drugs to students,” he said.

Giving a testimony, Tefo Dipate, one of the graduates said the boot camp has transformed him and his group that was going by the name ‘Smoking Union.’ He confessed that they have since stopped their ill behaviour towards teachers, smoking and bullying other students.

He apologised before other students and teachers for their behaviour and promised that they have since ceased smoking as it delayed their learning. He added that they used to dodge lessons in order to smoke at the toilets.

In mending their ways and bringing reconciliation, Dipate said that they have replaced their smoking group and came up with a complete group that advocates against smoking.

The graduation ceremony was held under the theme: Moremogolo go betlwa wa taola wa motho wa ipetla. ENDS