03 Feb 2019

Minister of Basic Education, Mr Bagalatia Arone says no job can be without challenges, and that teachers should strive to produce good results amid challenges they face in their daily tasks.

Addressing teachers at Mphuthe Junior Secondary School in Letlhakeng recently, Mr Arone indicated that as a minister and former teacher, he did not believe in hurdles as reasons for failure, and that he was confident that teachers were capable of being resourceful and producing acceptable results.

Mr Arone also urged teachers to work harder to cleanse the ministry of a bad tag it currently carried, and promised them his full support by working hand in hand with teachers unions to try and address issues that affected teacher, such as welfare.

“Animosity between government and teachers’ unions should be a thing of the past, and as a ministry we have made a self-assessment and found issues that need to be addressed in order for the ministry and the teaching profession to march in unison. 

We need to learn to sit and talk about issues and reach a compromise where we differ,” he said.

He also applauded Mphuthe staff for its improvement of the Junior Certificate results. 

He said government had also taken a deliberate decision to make a biased support towards schools from poverty stricken areas such as Kweneng West, which would translate into a better budget for schools in such areas. 

He said this would ensure that such schools were given priority when posting teachers.

Mr Arone committed to addressing teachers’ shortage at the school as soon as today.

He also implored Mphuthe staff to work harder to improve the reputation of the school since it had been carrying a bad name

Mr Arone also indicated that the ministry was advocating for a bill that would cater for among others, the welfare of teachers such as a provision of a professional allowance.

He said if successful, the bill would also compel private schools to employ a certain quota of locals as well as licensing teachers for better monitoring.

In his welcome remarks, school head, Mr Meshack Sechele informed the minister of the school’s improvement in the Junior Certificate Examinations, which moved from 25 per cent quality pass in 2017 to nearly 30 per cent in the last examinations.

He said the improvement was made possible by the level of commitment from staff and other stakeholders. 

He said as a school they had been liaising with various motivators to talk to the pupils.

He said that the results also saw the school cutting down drastically on undesirable grades of U, D and E, although more needed to be done.

“Even though the performance is not yet high enough, we can see light at the end of the tunnel,” he said.

Mr Sechele also decried challenges such as staff shortage, saying at the moment they operate with 23 temporary teachers and are in need of about 26 permanent ones. 

He also said the school was faced with a challenge of teachers who have overstayed, with some having been around for about 20 years.

The teachers also aired their concerns such as lack of textbooks, slow progression and working far from their spouses. 

They also complained that top officials have a habit of visiting them and promising to act after learning of their grievances, only to disappear for good. 

The minister however, promised to act upon their concerns. ENDS