13 Oct 2013

Member of Parliament for Letlhakeng West, Mr Ngaka Ngaka says the aspiration for an educated and informed nation remains a priority that needs collective efforts of both parents and teachers.

In his speech at Mahupu Junior Secondary School prize giving ceremony at Takatokwane on October 11, Mr Ngaka noted that parents and teachers as well as students were key ingredients in ensuring good performance.

Thus, he implored stakeholders to work hard to change the school’s fortunes whose academic record he said had lingered below par with only a few improvements in some years.

Mr Ngaka said the school could turn around its fortunes with such concerted effort and become a shining example of academic excellence within the region and beyond.

However, he castigated the common practice by parents to leave the learning growth of their children solely to teachers. “This could be very frustrating for teachers as it leaves students in a conflict position where there is no relation between the school and home environment,” he said.

He said such a breakdown between teachers and parents bred an opportunity for delinquency among students. The school head, Mr Tshidiso Arabang said the school was faced with a number of challenges, among them, inadequacy of resources like accommodation for both staff and students, shortage of textbooks, beds as well as mattresses.

Mr Arabang however, said the most serious problem they faced as a school was the high rate of dropouts. “At the beginning of 2013 we had an enrolment of 859 students. To date we have lost 37, two due to pregnancy while the rest are due to desertion,” he said.

He lamented that bringing sucn students back to school was a tremendous effort because teachers were frustrated by parents.  Mr Arabang said indiscipline of students was also a concern as they have cases such as theft, escaping home by boarding students, smoking, vandalism and love affairs, among others.

He said they were also worried by parents who he said became subjective and defensive over their children and always put the school in the wrong. Mr Arabang also reiterated Mr Ngaka’s concern that parents relegated their children’s education to teachers and blamed them when students failed.

“A child is a seed that needs rich soil and rain, so the teacher and the parent need to play the role of rich soil and rain,” he said. Ends