05 Sep 2019

First National Bank Foundation (FNBB) and Botswana Power Corporation (BPC) have been hailed for empowering primary school children in remote areas.

The two organisations received the accolades recently when they donated solar school bags and pencil sets to Nxaraga satellite school pupils in an effort to enhance their learning and academic performance.

The satellite school was established in response to a request by residents for the government to establish a school in their village as their children were travelling 18km to Komana Primary School and it has an enrollment of 105 pupils from standard one to five.

Some local leaders commended the organisation for playing a critical role in the education, saying the school had been underperforming and hoped the donation would make a huge difference.

Komana village chief, Kgosi Omphile Bogoma thanked FNBB for the donation, which he said  would help learners to develop interest in school, adding that some were not attending school as expected despite efforts by government to ensure they access education closer to their homes.

He urged parents not to use the solar bag to charge their cellphones.

Maun Administrative Authority assistant council secretary, Ms Pedzani Mahama appreciated the authority’s partnership with FNBB Foundation. She said the foundation had been doing a commendable job across the country.

She said the donation would improve learning and appealed to parents to ensure the bags and pencil sets were put to good use to improve the children’s results.

Komana Primary School head, who also manages the satellite school, Ms Sophie Mogalakwe, also showered the donors with accolades and hoped the donation would make a difference to the school performance.

She said some pupils had abandoned school because of lack of parental guidance and that most pupils stayed home alone while their parents were living at cattle posts.

She said the village leadership, social workers and teachers were making efforts to follow up such children.

Maun FNB branch manager, Ms Kelebogile Disang said the donation was a token of love to the community.

She said the government alone could not meet all the communities’ expectations, hence the need for private sector to come to the party and assist where possible, as part of their corporate social responsibility.

The initiative has been rolled out to several villages and towns in a drive to make education more accessible to more children.

Ms Disang explained that the solar bags were made such that students could comfortably carry their books to school, while the panel attached to the bag uses sunlight to the light bulb.

The light bulb is said to be able to  produce enough light to aid during studies at home in the night.She said the donation would be beneficial as some pupils could not study well at home due to the absence of electricity.

She appreciated that many villages in the Ngamiland region such as Ngarange and Gani had benefited from the initiative.

“We find it fit to extend a helping hand to the children because they are the future and through the donation, we want to close the gaps between remote and urban pupils in education,” she added. ENDS