03 Feb 2020

Somerset Extension ward development committee vice chairperson, Mr Phillip Butale has urged government to consider cremation of deceased people in light of shortage of land for cemeteries.  

This, he argued, would free available land for residential plots.

He made these remarks during a Kgotla meeting addressed by Francistown Member of Parliament, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi recently.

Mr Butale also implored government to increase VDC allowances as members worked hard to bring developments to the community.

In addition, he said that Ipelegeng programme allowance should also be augmented as those engaged  have been committed in community developments.

Mr  Mmolotsi informed residents that government was concerned about the increasing rate of drug and alcohol abuse.

“Government has agreed to open a rehabilitation centre in Serowe, which is expected to be running in 22 months time” he said.

He also said that the country had decided to establish pre-schools in all primary schools in Botswana as a way of addressing poor academic performance.

MP Mmolotsi added that among 765 primary schools in Botswana, only 590 schools had pre-school components and the remaining ones would have those pre-schools by 2022.

He said that academic performance had been deteriorating over the years, hence government came up with an out-based education system in which pupils would be given a chance to choose subjects to study according to their interests and proficiencies.

Mr Mmolotsi further pointed out that government was in the process of adopting a language policy were students would be taught different languages to ease interaction and interpersonal relationships among Batswana.

“Language policy consist of three stages, the first stage was when government agreed on the policy, second stage will be a training process for those teachers who will be trained in these different languages and the third stage will be implementation of the policy in schools,” he said.

He said that marriage laws were also reviewed and government came to the conclusion that only couples aged 21 and above would be permitted to marry as a way of eliminating forced marriages.

The consequence of this review, he noted, was that the defilement age was raised from 16 to 18 years.

MP Mmolotsi further informed the residents about changes to the dual citizenship law, which saw the introduction of  Botswana Blue Card.

Residents also raised concerns about Mahube Primary School pupil intake.

Ms Philane Maungo highlighted that the school had adopted rules that made it difficult for pupils to be accepted when they tried to transfer from other schools.

Community members also raised a concern about the rising levels of criminal activities that were made worse by police failure  to respond promptly to reports. ENDS