06 Mar 2019

Member of Parliament for Lerala/Maunatlala, Mr Prince Maele has called on guardians, parents and teachers of children attending Lesenepole Primary School to work as a team to improve performance.

Mr Maele made the call during a Maduo Pitso he initiated to discuss issues that contributed to the school’s poor performance.

The meeting was attended by pupils from Standard Five to Seven, parents, teachers, dikgosi, VDC members, the Village Extension Team and community members.

Mr Maele was concerned that the school obtained a 51. 7 pass rate, and was the least performing of the 19 schools in his constituency.

He was informed that the poor results were due to the absence of parents in their children’s education. 

Teachers complained that parents did not attend PTA meetings nor assisted children with homework. 

The MP said he had received reports that children came to school untidy which showed lack of parental care.

The school head, Ms Segametsi Marumo said performance had been declining.

She noted that the school obtained 67.9 and 64 per cent pass rate in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

Ms Marumo also noted that shortage of books and other teaching materials  were contributing factors, adding that children’s attitude towards education was not good either.

Parents on the other hand, blamed the school, saying some teachers absconded from classes.

They also said they were not educated enough to assist children with homework, but were expected to guide and assist. 

The guardians, who were mostly grandparents indicated that children did not live with their parents and were left in their care.

They said looking after their grandchildren while at the same time working at the fields and tending to livestock was not easy.

Some parents complained that the curriculum was difficult and long, and that even the learners could not keep up. 

They suggested that PSLE should include material learnt in Standard 7 only.

For his part, Palapye Administration Authority principal education officer, Mr Shandulo Maphorisa shared the same views as MP Maele, noting that children’s education needed teamwork between pupils, parents and teachers. He said his organisation would devise a strategy to address the situation. ENDS