07 Apr 2019

Government has no plan under the eleventh National Development Plan (NDP 11) to build a dining hall at Maraka Junior Secondary School in Lotlhakane East, Assistant Minister of Basic Education, Mr Thato Kwerepe has said.

Mr Kwerepe pointed out that his ministry would refurbish outdoor cooking facilities that the school was currently using and provide two electric pots, two gas stoves and a change room for the kitchen staff within this financial year.

Maraka JSS, he said, was using the existing outdoor cooking facility to prepare the same meals as in other schools, so that learners were given proper nutrition services.

He further stated that the original construction of the school did not cater for a dining hall and a kitchen.

Member of Parliament for Kanye South, Mr Abram Kesupile had asked the minister if he was aware that the absence of a kitchen and a hall at Maraka Junior Secondary School in Lotlhakane East was negatively affecting nutrition services and pastoral care.

Mr Kesupile also wanted the minister to explain what the ministry was doing to ensure that the absence of those facilities did not cause further decline of the standards of nutrition and pastoral care.

He further wanted to know what the minister would do to ensure that the school got a kitchen and a hall before its nutrition and pastoral care services declined. ENDS