18 Feb 2019

Selebi Phikwe sub-region is experiencing a decline in pupil enrolment particularly in primary schools.

Education planning committee secretary, Ms Lame Osupile, informed Selebi Phikwe Urban Development Committee recently that enrolment declined by 646, attributing this to transfer of pupils due to parents relocation.

She said since closure of BCL Mine, enrolment continued to decline, citing Tebogo and Reuben Mpabanga primary schools as the most affected. 

She said a total of 11 424 pupils were registered in term three last year while this term  10 778 was recorded in all Selebi Phikwe schools, thus recording a decline of 646 students. 

Regarding academic performance, Ms Osupile commended Selebi Phikwe sub-region for outstanding performance in the PSLE, JC and BGCSE examinations.

She said three of the six junior secondary schools in Selebi Phikwe were in the national top 10 schools that performed well. 

Meepong JSS, which scooped position two, scored a pass rate of 73.9 per cent while Makhubu and Phatsimo got positions seven and eight respectively. 

Mojamorago JSS which is the most improved school with value addition of 22 per cent and Boikhutso JSS which performed below 50 per cent recorded a slight decline in academic results.

Ms Osupile said the sub-region generally performed at 62.3 per cent ABC with value addition of 7.2 per cent compared to 51.1 per cent ABC in 2017.

Regarding Selebi Phikwe Technical College, she said enrollment as at January stood at 992 of which 872 learners had been admitted to pursue the new vocational programmes while 120 were continuing the old vocational programmes. 

She said 992 learners had been admitted against the college capacity of 650 learners, adding that this resulted in the college having two streams A and B to accommodate the learners . 

The continuing students, she said, attended school from 7:30am to 11:30 am while stream B started at 12:30pm ending the day at 4:30 pm. 

She said students were engaged in character building programme which was designed as a pre-requisite for all learners admitted to pursue the new programme in the department of skills development institutions.

The programme was expected to run from January to March 2019 to equip learners with life skills, effective leadership qualities and nurture them to appreciate entrepreneurship among other areas of study. 

However, she said this massive intake put strain in the college resources, which were designed for 650 learners. 

She said curriculum for the new programme was not yet ready, adding that the college accreditation had also expired and that they have since submitted accreditation documents to Botswana Qualifications Authority. Ends