25 Jun 2020

Member of Parliament for Tonota constituency, Mr Pono Moatlhodi on June 23 visited schools in his constituency to check on the level of compliance with regard COVID-19 set of rules.

Speaking to BOPA in an interview following the tour of the schools, Mr Moatlhodi said preparations to meet COVID-19 protocols were lagging behind, citing that in some schools the process of erecting washing basins was ongoing.

He was also not amused by the unavailability of warm water for pupils to wash their hands as winter had already crept in.

The Tonota lawmaker also decried lack of supervision on some COVID-19 aligned projects and called on officers responsible to be proactive.

“Lack of supervision can lead to instances where a geyser might be present in a school, but it not providing the needed hot water for pupils to wash their hands with and these issues have to be followed up at the council to make sure that the needed infrastructure is in place for schools to be COVID-19 compliant”.

Mr Moatlhodi was however pleased that schools’ management and staff had gone an extra mile to ensure that there was compliance.

Parental input was another area that the MP was pleased with, stating that the fact that children were wearing masks at school was a sign that parents where sensitised on ensuring that pupils complied with COVID-19 protocols.

He also went on to thank bana ba Tonota for their input in helping to fight COVID-19, citing the exemplary actions of a former pupil of Madisakwana Primary School, who donated a total of 100 masks to be used by pupils.

Rutwang Junior Secondary school head, Mr Kwenakgolo Tokwe emphasised the difficult position that had been put on his school due to shortage of classes.

The situation, he said, left them with no option, but to improvise by finding alternative spaces around the school that could be converted into teaching space.

Tonota College of Education principal, Dr Lekoko Serumola said efforts to provide online learning for pupils to make up for unavailability of teaching space was hindered by a lack of ICT- based resources. ENDS