18 Nov 2020

The North West District commissioner, Mr Keolopile Leipego says poor academic results in the region reflect badly on all structures in the district.

Mr Leipego was speaking at a regional pitso, which was attended by the North West region leadership and stakeholders in Maun on November 17.

He therefore advised the district leadership to set targets and timelines for the recommendations and implement all those at district level.  Mr Leipego also advised them to communicate recommendations to be implemented at ministerial level to the relevant structures. 

Meanwhile, those in attendance challenged the local authorities to improve infrastructure in schools as it was one of the contributing factors to poor academic results in the region. 

Botswana Sectors of Educators Trade Union (BOSETU) Maun regional chairperson, Mr Letsweletse Setlhodi, said poor infrastructure, student-teacher ratio, shortage of teaching resources and bureaucracy by government departments, were among the many factors that contributed to poor academic results in the region.

Mr Setlhodi said there was need to improve staff accommodation and classrooms in the district and to manage student-teacher ratio by employing more teachers.

He also challenged the ministries of basic education and local government and rural development  to capacitate teachers on leadership and to ensure availability of teaching resources and supporting materials such as tablets and computers.

Another speaker, Ms Sophie Mogalakwe from Maun Senior Secondary School, concurred that poor infrastructure was a major concern in the district, lamenting the shortage of accommodation, classrooms and failure to maintain existing infrastructure.

Ms Mogalakwe said there was need for a decentralised approach to ensure resource availability in schools and for teachers’ welfare.

A student from Maitlamo Junior Secondary School, Ms Nampasa Silwamba cited lack of text books in schools as one of the contributing factors to poor academic results, saying some parents could not afford to buy books for their children.

North West regional education director, Ms Veronica Letlhare revealed that all the schools in the district had been performing below both the regional and national targets in their final examinations for the past five years.

She said primary schools in the region recorded between 56 and 64 per cent, as opposed to the expected 80 per cent from 2015 to 2019.

The junior secondary schools recorded between 22 and 26 per cent in the same period as opposed to the 50 per cent pass rate target, while senior secondary schools recorded between 17 and 21 per cent against the 50 per cent target. Ends