05 Jun 2019

Permanent secretary in the Ministry of Employment, Labour Productivity and Skills Development, Ms Pearl Ramokoka has called for cordial relations and harmony between the Jwaneng Technical College (JTC) students and the school management. 

Addressing students in response to the petition they handed the ministry through the office of the deputy district commissioner last week, Ms Ramokoka pleaded with the students to give management the respect they deserved and desist from undermining them. 

The complaints that the students raised through the petition included lack of accreditation of courses offered, shortage of lecturers, non-availability of resources and increment of students’ allowance. 

On non-accreditation of courses, the permanent secretary indicated that contrary to popular belief, all brigades and technical colleges across the country had  been accredited, saying if that was not the case the schools would not be operating. 

She said government would not allow the institutions to operate without due accreditation. 

On the meagre allowance, Ms Ramokoka indicated that students in technical colleges and brigades were fully sponsored by government, which meant that they did not qualify for any allowance, but just a stipend to buy the basics. 

“Allowance is only given to students in tertiary institutions such as UB, where students have been offered loans, but where one’s education is fully sponsored like in technical colleges and brigades, students are only given a stipend,” she said. 

She however, indicated that students were free to make a proposal to the ministry to either plead for an increment or change of arrangement for their education to be sponsored on a loan basis. 

She cautioned however, that such a change in arrangement would mean that students would be compelled to pay back the loan upon completion of their education. 

Ms Ramokoka also indicated that shortage of lecturers was being addressed. 

“At the moment there are 16 lecturers in the school, but we have managed to employ 27 more and they will be reporting starting this week. 

In the meanwhile, we will have to make do with the ones we have,” she said. 

She also indicated that government took long to address shortage of resources at the technical college because when it took over last year, the college was in dire need of maintenance. 

She said maintenance was ongoing, and said that it would have been unwise to halt classes until the maintenance was completed as students suggested, due to the fact that such a shortage was not a hindrance lessons. 

She said the best option was to be resourceful in making the most of the little available resources, and said the issue with equipment was not non-availability, but rather shortage. 

Ms Ramokoka encouraged the students to always discuss issues affecting them with the school management through the Students Representative Council, and said the management would then escalate the issues to the ministry, if they were beyond them. 

She also cautioned the students against engaging in politics while in the school premises. 

The students had requested to be addressed by the ministry’s senior management on issues that they said they had been complaining about since the beginning of the year, such as being offered unaccredited courses, shortage of lecturers and equipment and low living allowance. ENDS