07 Feb 2021

The indiscipline in schools is a reflection of society which has also experienced high levels of Gender Based Violence (GBV), says Assistant Minister of Basic Education, Ms Nnaniki Makwinja.

She said children were under stress and that it was compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent closure of schools. She added that there was need to strengthen pyscho-social support.

She noted that during the Commonwealth Education Ministers Action Group meeting in November last year, there was concern over an increase of attacks on teachers and learners which created violence in schools. She pleaded for the sanctity of schools to be maintained.

Ms Makwinja also noted her ministry had investigated the cause and effect of indiscipline in schools, adding that over the last 10 years her ministry had undertaken research on pupil behaviour.

She said the findings from the studies concluded that there was minimal parental support and involvement in the lives of children and their conduct in schools.

The findings also established that there was usage of drugs and alcohol by pupils as well as the influence of peer pressure and social media.

The assistant minister further said there was ineffective implementation of corrective interventions due to capacity limitations.

She further said recommendations from the research had been used to inform programming of new interventions in schools.

These include boot camps, war on drugs and alcohol, development of child friendly schools and the placement of heads of department for learning difficulties in all primary schools.

“However, there have been challenges implementing some recommendations due to funding constraints and the need for continuous staff training,” she said.

She said her ministry has established a team to consider merging two policies of guidance and counselling and the pastoral policy.

“An initial draft of the new policy has been developed and will now undergo a process of internal discussion and consideration for approval,” she said.

Gaborone Bonnington South MP, Mr Christian Greeff had asked the minister why the pastoral policy and guidance and counselling policies were unable to curb indiscipline in schools, and to state if research was done to find the root cause of the problem.

He also wanted to know reasons for lack of implementation of the recommendations and why the two policies could not be merged to do away with ambiguity and duplication of efforts as they appeared to be addressing the same issue. ENDS