27 Jan 2019

Member of Parliament for Lerala-Maunatlala, Mr Prince Maele, has decried poor performance of Mapulane and Lesenepole primary schools in his constituency.

Addressing kgotla meetings in Moremi and Lesenepole recently, Mr Maele indicated that the 2018 PSLE results indicated that the two schools obtained position 16 and 19 respectively out of the 19 primary schools in his constituency.

He expressed concern at the poor performance of the schools, noting that some interventions had to be put in place to improve performance.

MP Maele pointed that one reason that the schools did not perform well was because parents and guardians of pupils did not play a role in their children’s education.

He explained that he had been informed that parents did not attend PTA meetings.

Also, parents did not assist children with homework and other assignments. He expressed concern that parents had neglected their responsibilities to teach and mold children and left all the work to teachers.

The legislator pointed out that it was imperative for parents to also spend time with children, educate them and go through homework with them.

He set up March 1 as a date where he would hold general meeting at Lesenepole with parents, teachers and residents to discuss challenges that caused the school to perform dismally and then come up with solutions.

Meanwhile, during the meeting Mr Maele gave a brief on some issues presented by President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi in his State-of-Nation-Nation Address (SONA) last year.

In regards to business tourism sector, he said licenses for projects such guest houses, bed and breakfast facilities, campsites and caravan sites, boat or canoe tours, mobile safaris have been reserved for Batswana.

He said the move was aimed at making way for Batswana to participate in the tourism sector and also create employment opportunities.

Mr Maele also touched on Collateral Registry Bill meant for movable property such as vehicles, livestock and other assets to be utilized as security by Batswana or businesses to acquire loans.

He further stated that the Change of Name Bill had been tabled in parliament.

It would allow Batswana to apply to change their names and this could take place only twice.

He said if a person was under the age of 21 consent would be needed to change names from both sides of the family where the minor came from.

Furthermore, the legislator explained that Marriage Act had also been enacted for all marriages to be registered at the national registry whether people married in church or held a traditional wedding.

Mr Maele touched on Stock Theft Act stating that imprisonment of offenders will be increased from seven to 12 years for first offenders and 10 to 15 years for habitual offenders.

He said butchery owners implicated in the crime will also face the same wrath of the law since they provided market for such offenders.

He said Sex Offenders Bill had also been revised and age for minors had been taken up from 16 years to 18 years.

He added that National Employment Policy was also in place to tackle unemployment experienced in the country especially among the youth. Further he stated that government has changed the law to allow for Visa applications to be made in Botswana Embassies in other countries. Ends