27 Aug 2019

 Kweneng District Council chairperson, Mr Jeffery Sibisibi has raised concern over the alarming rate of school dropouts in Kweneng District with high numbers of desertion and pregnancies.

Officially opening Kweneng District Council recently, Mr Sibisibi reported 17 cases of pregnancy across the district since the beginning of the current term.

He said while school dropouts were mostly associated with pregnancy, there was a worrying trend where high numbers of male pupils deserted school. 

He said the number of dropouts stood at 47 males against 27 females in primary schools while 78 males against 32 females were recorded in junior schools.

“Continuously we are losing pupils on various dropout reasons bordering mostly on pregnancy and desertion. We all agree that there can never be an acceptable reason for any learner to exit the education system,” he said.

He said the appalling state of affairs needed to be looked into by coming up with solutions on how best the problem could be tackled.

He said the district had expressed disappointment at the trend which he said impacted negatively on the delivery of projects to communities around Kweneng.

The council chairperson briefed councillors about the decision to establish a record centre at Letlhakeng’s old Mphute Junior Secondary School for the safekeeping of council records.

The decision, he said, was reached to help improve records management. 

He said in an endevour to enhance security for critical council operations, a biometric access control device was installed at some of the critical departments such as records management unit and human resources management records office and other areas where classified information was kept.

“We shall continue to ensure that all risk factors are identified and addressed accordingly,” he said.

On other issues, the council chairperson said the council was working towards the review of some of its initiatives such as the P9 million Mafenyatlala Service Hall as well as the fire station contracts.

“During this session we will be updated by the task team that was looking at the Mafenyatlala and fire station contracts, and be able to improve on its functionality,” he said. 

In relation to the poverty eradication exercise, it was reported that a number of individuals were enrolled. He said  challenges encountered include identifying markets for beneficiaries who depended on procurement by government departments.

The other challenges, he said,  included lack of commitment leading to the abandonment of projects by beneficiaries

Mr Sibisibi reiterated concern over the mushrooming of day care centres, especially in Mogoditshane, where numbers were reported to be increasing. The district, he said, had 179 unlicensed entities with 99 illegal operators.

He further reported the positive impact made by the SHHA programme in the district. He said 477 applications had been recorded for home improvements at the cumulative amount of P26 million.

Mr Sibisibi said the initiative would go a long way in driving one of the council’s strategic objective of building resilient communities.

The council was also briefed about the excellent performance of the 10-year-old Letlhakeng Primary School pupil, Thuto Mpebe, who secured a seat at the World Schools Championships slated for Peru. 

This follows his recent gold medal at the Africa Schools Chess championships in Uganda.  ENDS