28 Feb 2022

Learners who have clear career goals are usually more successful in their academic studies compared to those without goals.

It is against this beck drop that Femina Woman Association (FWA) conducted a one-day goal- setting empowerment session for female pupils in Lobatse on Saturday.

The training, held at Letsopa Junior Secondary School, was attended by approximately 50 girls from Letsopa and Pitikwe junior schools.

Facilitating the training, Ms Tiny Mapharing from FWA advised the learners to have clear ambitions about their careers.

She told them that they should then develop goals on how to fulfill those career ambitions.

She said goals should have short term targets and milestones, adding that they should have clear time frames and strategies of when and how those targets would be achieved.

“Goals give you a long term vision and a short term motivation.

They help you to focus on getting the right knowledge and organising your time and your resources so that you can make the most out of your life.

When you set goals you will be able to know exactly what you want to achieve,” Ms Mapharing said.

Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely (SMART) goals usually help students to propel their energy on what they want to achieve, said Ms Mapharing.

“A SMART goal would clearly spells what you want to do, why you want to do it, who is involved in achieving the goal and when it should be achieved,” she said.

As an example she said if the learner had an ambition to be a doctor, nurse, teacher or any other career the goal would be to attain the required grades for such a career path.

“You should then come up with a strategy to study hard to achieve that goal.

You should face all challenges that come your way,” she said.

She advised them to share their goals with people who would help them to achieve them.

Ms Mapharing said lack of focus, lack of discipline, lack of self-confidence and laziness could lead to pupils failing to achieve their goals.

She added that learners in most cases failed because they had no plans or goals.

Ms Keamogetse Nkgare also from FWA, said Femina Woman Association was established in 2012 by women who aspired to empower other women and girls in all spheres of life.

“We usually hold mentoring sessions where successful women share their knowledge with other women in order to uplift one another,” she said.

She said the aim of their mentoring programmes in school was to empower the female students to have self-confidence and make sound decisions about their studies.

Letsopa JSS Guidance and Counselling teacher, Ms Lekwalo Thobega urged students to use knowledge they gained from the session to benefit their studies.

She further asked them to share the knowledge with their peers.

She also thanked Femina Woman Association for empowering a girl child. ENDS