20 Feb 2022

Government has pleaded with some parents in Letoreng village to allow their children to go back to school.

Assistant Minister of Basic Education, Ms Nnaniki Makwinja told Parliament that it had been a while since standard six students from Letoreng primary school were stopped from attending school by parents who fear for their safety.

Responding to a parliamentary question, Ms Makwinja said Letoreng village has a satellite primary school catering for students in the lower classes. Therefore, Ms Makwinja said upper classes of standard six and seven endure the daily walk of travelling 16 km to attend school at Matlhako.

Ms Makwinja said it was unfortunate to observe that some students, more especially those in the upper classes still endure the challenging route of travelling long distance every day to attend school. She added that even though the village had requested for a fully-fledged primary school, the current project was done with the knowledge that it would only cater for lower primary students.

Ms Makwinja also confirmed to Parliament that parents for standard six pupils had resolved that to keep their children at home for fear that they might be attacked by criminals. “As we speak, standard six students at Matlhako are not attending classes,” she said.

She also appreciated that standard seven students were not affected by the current situation. She has however cautioned parents that it was against the law to stop children from accessing education.

 “We must state without threatening parents that education was a child’s basic rights and therefore parents must not deny them that opportunity,” said Ms Makwinja.
Ms Makwinja indicated that Letoreng satellite primary school was not in the plan of getting additional infrastructure to cater for all classes under the current financial year.

Numerous consultation forums were conducted by the Regional Education Officer from Serowe, Deputy District Commissioner, Senior Assistant Council Secretary from Mahalapye and the village leadership and community to encourage parents to allow children to go to school, she said.

Such efforts, she said were futile as the students were not attending classes, but pointed out that consultations were ongoing.

Ms Makwinja said she visited the village on February 15, accompanied by the Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Setlhabelo Modukanele to plead with the parents to allow their children to go to school. “We are concerned by the situation,” said Ms Makwinja.

She also appealed to Letoreng village and political leadership to plead with parents to allow their children to go to school. She said there was an urgent need to address the situation amicably.

“We are concerned by them not going to school, their safety is also our priority,” said Ms Makwinja.

She further confirmed that once students start attending classes, the school would ensure that the students cover for lost time to catch up with the syllabus.

The challenge of children travelling long distances to attend school was not immune to Letoreng as it was spread across the country, she said noting consultations undertaken by her ministry, had reflected that there was a need to construct at least 100 new primary schools to cut the long distance endured by children to get education.

Parliament also learnt that reception classes were not a prerequisite for children to be admitted into standard one. However, she emphasized that it was important to move with the times and engage children at a young age.

She said her ministry was in the process of introducing a 12-year basic education plan, of which two years are for preprimary.

The programme was at 43 per cent as currently most schools have one class for preschool, while others were yet to cater for it, she said.

The Member of Parliament for Sefhare – Ramokgonami, Dr Kesitegile Gobotswang had asked the minister to update Parliament on the crisis engulfing Letoreng Satellite Primary School and in particular, to confirm if parents from Letoreng had resolved not to allow their standard six children to be enrolled at Matlhako Primary School which was eight kilometers away.

He also wanted the minister to confirm if a reception class was a pre-requisite for admission to standard one and also to confirm whether there was a classroom presently used as a reception class that could be prioritised for use by standard six learners.

Furthermore, Dr Gobotswang asked the minister to confirm if the main reason that standard six learners could not attend classes at Letoreng Satellite Primary School was that the ministry was unable to provide a teacher.

The minister was also to update the House on efforts made to resolve the crisis; taking into account the loss of teaching time as well as the trauma suffered by learners and their parents. ENDS