30 Jan 2020

Parents have been encouraged to play significant role in their children’s education as their involvement will reduce numerous challenges that Mahupu Unified Secondary School at Takatokwane is faced with.

Speaking during the stakeholder meeting at Mahupu recently, the Parents Teachers Association chairperson Mr Titus Matthys said lack of funds, teenage pregnancy, pupils indiscipline, vandalism and lack of parents participation in their children’s education were a serious concern at the school.

Mr Matthys said the challenges the school experienced had forced them to organise a meeting for stakeholders to share ideas and strategies on how to resolve the issues.

He said parents should not forget their responsibility in ensuring that their children were well mannered, focused on education as well as adhered to school regulations.

The chairperson said it was unfortunate that many parents did not monitor their children’s academic performance leaving the burden on the teachers.

Mr Matthys who is also the Administration/Research Officer at Takatokwane Constituency Office said many issues raised during kgotla meetings addressed by the Member of Parliament Mr Friction Leuwe compelled him to plan a stakeholders meeting so that all concerned parties could map the way forward.

He said many parents were failing to pay the P115 required by the school which included P30 for prize giving, P45 for cleaning and P40 for development fee.

“This therefore makes it difficult for the school to undertake planned school activities and delays progress”.

Regarding cases of pregnancies, Mr Matthys expressed concern over parents who withdraw such cases saying the ‘culprits are never brought to justice while the future of the child is left hanging.’

Additionally, he said he was even saddened by the pupils who absconded from school without permission, noting that some could go for more than 21 days without coming to school.

“These issues have to be dealt with so that parents can help children secure a better future for themselves,” he said.

When giving remarks, the School Head Mr Mpaphi Kuswani appreciated the meeting saying it could help the school to improve its performance

The school head further said since 2009, the school’s performance  showed that a lot needed to be done to improve performance.

Mr Kuswani said parents had to up their game by participating in their children education, adding  that it was at this back drop that the school took a decision to have meetings with parents to share the challenges they experienced.

He said the school has 42 classes with a total number of 1500 pupils. Different stakeholders took opportunity to share ideas and views on how best to deal with the challenges faced by the school especially performance.

Kgosi Batho Tshoso from Motokwe said it was important that security be strengthened around the hostels and counting of pupils be done to find those who jump fences.

In his welcome remarks, Kgosi Visco Tsiane of Takatokwane said the meeting came at the right time when there was need to deal with issues affecting education.

He said it was important for stakeholders to come up with strategies that would help address problems and challenges experienced by the school.

Among the stakeholders who attended the meeting were School heads, Social and community development, Botswana Police Service, Dikgosi, Councilors and village development committees. ENDS