21 Aug 2013

Young people working in the Ipelegeng programme have been advised to go back to school as Ipelegeng was intended for the elderly, the MP for Mogoditshane, Mr Patrick Masimolole, has advised.

Addressing Mogoditshane constituents at Senthumule and Maipei wards on Tuesday, Mr Masimolole, who is also an assistant minister in the Ministry of Education and Skills Development, dismissed claims that his ministry had run short of funds to sponsor progressing students and those illegible for back-to-school programme.

He re-assured voters that funds were available and as such parents should encourage their children to enroll in the two programmes instead of wasting time doing Ipelegeng jobs.

On the problem of teachers’ accommodation, the assistant minister said his ministry purchased a block of flats at Block 6 in Gaborone last year to accommodate teachers at the recently opened Mogoditshane Senior Secondary School.

The ministry took a further step to construct 150 houses in Mogoditshane to be completed next year; the intention being to address the shortage of accommodation at Mogoditshane senior.

The development, he said, would ease the general shortage of teachers’ accommodation including at local junior secondary schools as teachers would in turn be accommodated at Block 6 when the housing project is complete.

On other issues, Mr Masimolole told the gathering that Parliament was debating the Botswana Land Policy, which proposed that local residents be given priority over settler residents by introducing the quota system.

He expressed concern over those who sold their land especially to foreigners and in turn bought invaluable things such as luxury cars. He thus cautioned that land was a natural resource which did not expand and advised them to desist from selling it.

Commenting on issues raised, the residents complained that officers at the ministry of education were not helpful when their children sought sponsorship. They were always tossed around despite government’s good intention of giving children a second chance to better their future.

Mr Pitso Sekao, a resident of Matebele ward in Mogoditshane, said even though the back-to-school programme was good, youth were not eager to take it up; instead they preferred to engage in activities that do not build them such as alcohol and drug abuse. ENDS