21 Feb 2022

Serowe South legislator, Mr Leepetswe Lesedi says the poor educational results across the country was a result of numerous challenges that require resolute effort by all concerned stakeholders.

Commenting on the budget speech on Thursday, Mr Lesedi applauded teachers in playing a key role in learners academic results but said  their efforts must be augmented by the support from parents and provision of a conducive learning environment.

He said challenges such as   shortage of classrooms, furniture, stationery and accommodation for teachers. Boarding facilities were also a concern as the structures were dilapidated with shortage of beds and equally congested, he added.

The role of Parents and Teachers Association (PTA), he said, must be reviewed and aligned to the challenges to ensure that their primary role of linking the school with the parents was well executed.

He said PTAs were primarily mandated with encouraging parents to fully engage in their children’s education and help the school identify and address social challenges likely to impact negatively on students’ performance.

His concern was that PTAs mandate like that of other committees was gradually diminishing and therefore the school appear to be the only committed people in children’s’ education. Mr Lesedi suggested a review with the possibility of increasing remuneration of PTA committees to inject energy into them to gain positive results.

Mr Lesedi said Mothamo Junior Secondary School at Radisele was in dire need of maintenance. He said the majority of students stay in a boarding facility that was congested and dilapidated.

He added that the school was an 18 stream and that currently the population of the students had exceeded the recommended numbers.

The lawmaker was also concerned by students escaping from the hostel and absconding school.

He also requested for a new police station in Serowe and that satellite police post were proposed to assist the police combat increase crime in the village and requested for Special Constables.

MP for Gabane – Mankgodi, Mr Kagiso Mmusi also indicated that shortage of accommodation was a challenge in his constituency. In an effort to empower youth, Mr Mmusi said 25 youth through his constituency office in 2020 were offered scholarships through the Indian Council for Cultural Relations to study various courses in India.

Mr Mmusi also highlighted that allocation of land for residential use remained a challenge and the delay in compensating people who had offered their ploughing fields to the land board to allocate residential plots.

He since his constituency was on the boundary of a city, it was overwhelmed by application for land with some taking desperate measures of illegal allocations.

Even though appreciating completion of internal roads and streetlights in Gabane, Mr Mmusi said failure to complete projects on time and address all challenges emanating from such developments remained a challenge. Some residents of Gabane who were affected by the internal roads project were yet to be compensated, he said.

Contributing to the debate on the budget speech, MP for Tlokweng, Mr Thulagano Segokgo acknowledged that even though the proposed budget would not be able to cater for priorities of constituencies, it was worth appreciating that it would focus on the major projects in the national development agenda.

Mr Segokgo also said agriculture was the backbone of livelihoods and therefore it was important for the ministry to get a larger share of the budget as it has potential to create employment opportunities.

He acknowledged that the ban on importation of certain commodities had resulted in shortage of some food items. However, Mr Segokgo said the community must appreciate that the challenge was a wake-up call with positive intentions and high benefits.

Mr Segokgo said the revival of the agricultural sector by reducing imports and producing more locally was an opportunity for Batswana to contribute to the economy.

Furthermore, Mr Segokgo said issues relating to land were dominant in Tlokweng. Currently, the waiting list for residential land was more than 55 000, while on the other hand the proposed Tlokweng Development Plan was expected to produce 5 000 residential plots, he said.

The Tlokweng legislator stated that the village could not grow as it was surrounded by ranches and bordering a city.

He however appealed to government to purchase some nearby ranches to cater for the village’s expansion. Mr Segokgo said based on the waiting list, it was clear that the village was growing at a fast pace.

He said the speedy growth of the village was yelling for developments to commensurate with it such as provision of a senior secondary school, police station, expansion of water works and health facilities. ENDS