02 Apr 2019

The initiative by the Pentecostal Protestant Church (PPC) to improve Marang Junior Secondary School results using the Adopt-a-School initiative will assist pupils to put more effort in their studies to be future top achievers.

Speaking during a donation ceremony at the school, deputy permanent secretary in the Office of the President, Mr Ernest Phiri encouraged other institutions to follow suit.

Mr Phiri said government advocated for companies and individuals to offer a helping hand to transform the lives of the pupils by giving them good education. 

He said since the church took the responsibility to address students’ social matters, the parents must also show commitment in the children’s education.

He thanked the church for its efforts, which he said would help government to achieve the goal of transforming the economy from being resource based to being knowledge based. 

Earlier on when welcoming guests, deputy school head Ms Sokolang Makala said the Adopt--a-School initiative enabled cooperation between organisations, companies and schools. 

Ms Makala said Marang had 24 classes with a total  of 1 017 pupils, 65 of whom were underprivileged. 

“We are grateful that PPC found it necessary to adopt us as a school. 

We will reap the benefits and the underprivileged pupils will benefit even more.” 

The school obtained a 45 per cent pass rate in the 2016 Junior Certificate Examinations, 47.7 per cent in 2017, and in 2018 it obtained a 46.6 per cent pass rate. 

Ms Makala said they would work extra hard, urging the church to invest its energy in the school academic work to help improve its academic performance.

When presenting the gifts,  PPC senior pastor Dr Oboletse Matlhaope, said government had  done well building more than 300 secondary schools across the country and achieving a high level of literacy as compared to many Africa countries.

He however said a lot still had to be done since poverty was still a reality among Batswana with the potential to affect the education of some, making them trapped permanently in the bondage of poverty. 

He said another challenge facing the country was the rate of HIV infection. 

Dr Matlhaope said the church should play a central role in the social development of citizens in partnership with government. 

“The church is part of the body of Christ whose mandate is to show Christ unconditional love to humanity and we are here to just do that. 

In line with the government’s initiative of Adopt-a-School, PPC wishes to adopt Marang Community Junior Secondary School in order to offer psychological support to the school community.” 

He added that challenges facing Batswana, particularly learners,  were real and that acts of kindness, compassion, generosity and neighbourliness bonded the nation of Botswana. ends