13 Jul 2020

Minister of Agricultural Development and Food Security, Dr Edwin Dikoloti has expressed appreciation to Kalcon and DeBeers Botswana (Debswana) for heeding government calls to assist schools in need.

He said this in his remarks at the handing over of a porter cabin donated by Kalcon for use as school guidance and counselling office at Mogale Junior Secondary School.

Dr Dikoloti noted that the donation would go a long way in augmenting shortage of classrooms and would restore the dignity of the learners, adding that children would be given the assistance and privacy they deserved.

“The impact mitigation for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) should remain our priority to ensure that through education and economic development, we can break the cycle of poverty,” he said.

Dr Dikoloti noted that, education and economic development support required high and long term investment, adding that government had done extremely well through different programmes. 

“This donation therefore will go a long way in transforming and shaping the lives of our future leaders,” he said.

He reiterated coronavirus pandemic impacted the health sector, adding that there was need to manage the mental health of children and to ensure that post corona, there was a generation that would carry on the dreams of the nation.

“Most of us will agree that this situation has badly affected our vulnerable members. This will overburden the already overwhelmed guidance and counselling dealing with the cases of orphans and vulnerable children,” he said.

Dr Dikoloti shared that poverty in general, and lack of adult care in particular appear to be more strongly associated with educational challenges than orphanhood, and this was where stakeholders had to step in and play a meaningful role in laying a good foundation for the children.

“Teachers are doing their utmost to help the pupils by encouraging and motivating them to perform at optimum and achieve the end result. They need the help of OVC to go through this phase,” he said.

He advised that, education could leverage significant improvements in lives of orphans and vulnerable children, adding that, besides conferring knowledge and life skills, schooling could contribute to a child’s psychosocial development and provide a safe, structured environment in the turbulent times of COVID-19.

‘I have been reliable informed that the school is a host to 938 learners as it has a 24 stream on a 15 stream infrastructure, The school has only 10 classrooms which means there is a shortage of 14 classrooms,” he said.

He noted that such was a serious challenge as schools were also expected to adhere to COVID-19 protocols such as social distancing. 

“It is against this background that we need to stand in unison and applaud the good gesture by the two companies for heeding government’s call to assist.

Mogale Junior Secondary, Schoolhead, Mr Effort Gaboiphiwe acknowledged that counselling services was a one on one service, which required self-disclosure, confidentiality among others adding that the donation would offer privacy and the opportunity to change the lives of leaners. 

“It is always heart-breaking to hear that a student deserted school because there was no counselling services offered. The donation will change our course of action,”he said.

He noted that, it was for these reasons that Mogale JSS team was highly appreciative of the initiatives, adding that they hoped the gesture would prompt a chain reaction for more organisations to follow suit. 

“I motivate the corporate world to know that we can all play a key role in the mission to ensure that learners receive the best education on our watch. A better Botswana for all is forged by players like kalcon. These patriotic gestures hint that, when the school constantly pursues for assistance, our requests do not fall on heedless ears but relationships are made,” he said.

Debswana senior planner, Mr Othusitse Kelapile said the gesture was made following their General Manager’s visit to the school in the recent past, whom as a parent and leader became genuinely concerned about the unpleasant pre-existing conditions at the school. Ends