14 Nov 2019

Makolojwane Primary School in Serowe is enjoying the benefits of the silent dropout pilot programme which has helped to reduce pupils’ dropouts and improve school results.  

Introduced in 2016, the school head Ms Banabotlhe Keoonne explained that the silent dropout programme targeted pupils who went to school daily, but were not interested in learning and eventually dropped out.

Ms Keoonne told parents at the donation event by Boiteko Spar Serowe on Wednesday that the targeted pupils were placed on a family setting, which teachers and parents were part of to afford them  a platform to freely discuss issues affecting their performance.

She said the programme adopted a family setting where leadership and parents were critical stakeholders for the successful implementation of the project.

The school head said in such a personalised family setting, each teacher was allocated pupils to  act as their parent or guardian.

“Through this meeting or interaction, pupils are equipped with skills to tackle life challenges in a storytelling format and sharing of experiences. 

The setting affords pupils a platform to discuss anything with a parent or teachers,” she said.

Further, she explained that outside teaching hours, each parent or teacher was a guide to their children and interacted with them.

“In the process, it will be easy to unlock pupils’ academic capabilities at the same time blocking silent drop out from  becoming complete drop outs,” she said.

Ms Keoonne argued that where the programme was introduced, the academic performance had improved, pointing out that the programme was introduced at the Chobe District primary schools in 2014 and 2015. 

“It was reported that they registered zero drop out and improved performance,” she said.

She said it was government decision to roll out the programme throughout the country including at the senior school level.

She said the programme was also piloted in some schools in Serowe, and the Serowe sub-region looking at the number of school dropout in the previous years, which was a cause for concern while parents, on the other hand, seemed not to be concerned.

Ms Keoonne noted that most of the children at her school came from disadvantaged families and lacked parental care despite the capabilities they have shown.

She said even though Spar had donated school uniform, she was concerned about parents who would use it for their own benefit,  in some instances wearing it. ENDS