13 Apr 2022

Palms for Life Fund Botswana has been urged to spread its wings countrywide and assist remote area communities with increased access to education.

Speaking at a meet and greet session with students from Remote Area Development Programme (RADP) settlements studying at Gabane Private Secondary School under the Palms for Life Fund scholarship, Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Ms Talitha Monnakgotla applauded the good gesture and said it was through partnerships with organisations such as Palms for Life that government had been able to mobilise support for the Affirmative Action Framework for remote area communities, especially on increased access to education for youth in remote areas and other vulnerable communities.

Ms Monnakgotla visited the students in Gabane to appreciate the learning environment of those who had seized the opportunity to retake their JC and BGCSE this year.

She said the partnership memorandum of understanding was signed in December last year and included the scholarship programme, which would assist in the realisation of the Vision 2036 pillar of human and social development and the sustainable development goal four which talks about quality education.

Ms Monnakgotla said the partnership was also in sync with her ministry’s vision of a center of excellence in local governance and social service provision for improved quality of life and the affirmative action framework.

For her part Assistant Minister of Basic Education, Ms Nnaniki Makwinja said the partnership was a welcome development as learners were given a second chance and an opportunity to further their education.

“These RADS learners are from communities faced with different challenges such as walking long distances to school, language barriers, and lack of necessities, which makes them vulnerable and thus may hinder their progression to education. Government has a special programme to support such children. However government alone cannot achieve all initiatives intended for all that need help,” she said.

She highlighted that out of the 10 regions under the ministry of basic education seven had vulnerable learners. Kgalagadi, Ghanzi, North West and Kweneng. She urged leaners to utilise the opportunity availed to them. Ms Makwinja said SDG 4.7 advocated acquisition of knowledge and skills needed to promote sustainable development.

“I therefore wish to urge you to take advantage of this great opportunity to ensure that while your personal needs are taken care of you need to exert yourself fully. Your attitude and dedication can positively position you to gain irreversible skills and knowledge that can enable you to progress to the next level and to eventually become employable and innovative,” she added.

Palms for Life Fund Botswana representative, Ms Yvonne Kgwarae said they shared with government a strong commitment to reduce the education gap for less privileged students.

She said through the recent partnership they were able to introduce a threefold scholarship programme namely, a bridging sub programme, which targeted students who did not perform well in their form 3 and 5 exams, a vocational sub programme, which targeted those eager to enroll in vocational training, but lacked sufficient resources and lastly the tutorial sub programme which offered RAC students enrolled with the Botswana Open University additional tutorials in preparation for their exams.

She said for each sub programme they aimed to reach at least 400 students. Palms for Life Botswana are a nonprofit whose mission is to improve sustainable access to education, food water and sanitation for vulnerable communities using human rights centred approaches. Ends