01 Mar 2021

Malatswae Primary School and the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) on Friday signed a three-year Memorandum of Understanding, through the Adopt-A-School initiative

Malatswae primary head teacher, Ms Johanna Kgopo said the support the school was getting from HRDC played a major part in improving the school’s academic performance.

Having registered a pass rate of 28.6 per cent in 2016, 82.8 in 2017, 85.7 in 2018, 70.8 in 2019 and 86.5 per cent in 2020, Ms Kgopo said the results showed that the school was now reaping the benefits of Adopt-A-School initiative.

She said the partnership started in 2017 with the aim to enhance the teaching and learning environment, adding that the agreement was based on three aspects being academic support, infrastructure support and management capacity building, areas that Ms Kgopo said HRDC ensured the school got assistance in.

The school has an enrolment of 780 pupils with a hostel that accommodates mostly pupils from the ranches around Malatswae.

Ms Kgopo decried the challenges that came with being located in an enclosed rural area, far from amenities as well as inadequate accommodation for teachers.

“Teachers are forced to share because the school has nine houses against 25 teachers,” stated Ms Kgopo.

Serowe Sub-region chief education officer, Mr Othusitse Namane appreciated HRDC for adopting Malatswae Primary School.

He noted that HRDC assisted the school to perform better, despite it being located in a remotest area with a challenging background and environment.

Mr Namane said HRDC’s support to Malatswae school was by extension support to the government in its quest for a knowledge based economy.

He said HRDC was not only adopting but building a strong partnership with Malatswae school and improving the health and education of the pupils.

Mr Namane said since the partnership in 2017 the school’s academic results had improved and urged other companies to emulate HRDC by adopting other schools.

HRDC chief executive officer, Dr Raphael Dingalo said the council HRDC was committed to providing as much support as it could. He donated a TV set, projector screen, toners and files to the school.

For his part, Serowe Sub-council vice chairman and also Malatswae councillor, Mr Bernard Kenosi thanked HRDC for the assistance it afforded Malatswae primary. He appealed to the parents to work with school management to continue with the good results.

He donated P50 000 to be shared equally by Malatswae primary and Mmashoro Junior Secondary School. Malatswae will use its share for the Standard 7 tour while Mmashoro junior’s will go towards the reward system. Ends