16 May 2022

Meetings between legislators and workers’ unions are important as they provide a platform for sharing of ideas towards better working conditions. Member of Parliament for Kanye South Dr Lemogang Kwape said this when meeting with representatives from workers’ unions in Kanye on Friday. 

He said it was important for him to understand issues that prevented smooth service delivery, so that he could elevate them to appropriate platforms such as parliament. 

With regard to education, Dr Kwape said he was worried about the performance of schools in the constituency. He added more needed to be done to prepare the youth for tomorrow’s leadership. 

Botswana Sectors of Educators Trade Union Kanye branch chairman, Mr Godiraone Kootshabe said the union was deeply concerned about the poor performance of schools. 

He said the dismal performance was due to a number of reasons, one of which was poor student discipline. 

He called on parents and other stakeholders to work together to stop indiscipline among learners. He added they were also worried about shortage of resources such as textbooks. They also were short of teachers’ accommodation. Mr Kootshabe said splitting classes following the COVID-19 outbreak had contributed to shortage of accommodation, as now government had to hire more teachers. 

“This situation has now reached a crisis point,” that even married couples shared houses, he said. Mr Kootshabe called for monetary awards for excelling teachers and schools to motivate them and challenge those lagging behind to do better. 

For his part, Kanye Botswana Teachers Union branch Chairperson, Mr Tlousetso Phiriepa said shortage of resources was a major concern, noting teachers used their own resources to buy stationary. 

While they appealed to parents to buy notebooks for their children from time to time, some parents were too poor to do that, he said. 

Mr Phiriepa said some classrooms had no electricity, which made visibility difficult during rainy days.

“There is also the matter of dilapidated structures, which makes both learning and teaching difficult,” he said. He expressed concern that most senior teachers at primary schools were graded at C1 scale, while those at junior secondary schools were placed at D4, even though they held the same qualifications. He proposed that government should look into the issue as it could be a source of disgruntlement. 

“You will find that senior teachers with portfolios, mostly at C1, supervise other teachers in the same scale and that means more workload,” he said. 

Mr Phiriepa added that they were concerned about shortage of classrooms for pre-schoolers and special education learners, saying that in some schools there were no chairs and tables for the leaners. 

Faced with the difficult situation, “some schools have resorted to using staffrooms as classrooms,” he said. 

He said it was important to speedily bring back school sports as learners who were not academically gifted could develop their sports careers and eventually make a living through it. Botswana Nurses Union representative, Mr Utlwanang Kelapile suggested that VDC houses should be reserved for public officers. 

The MP agreed with him, and assured he would meet with councillors to devise a strategy to that effect. ends