19 May 2022

Struggles to make copies of school work, especially examination papers at the end of each term, will become a thing of the past for Dinonyane Primary School in Jwaneng thanks to Komatsu Botswana and Canon who gifted the school a photocopying machine and some photocopying papers. 

The introduction of initiatives such as Adopt a school programme has seen some good samaritans coming through to support schools.  

Speaking at the handing over of the machine and papers at Jwaneng on Wednesday, Komatsu Botswana’s senior operations manager, Mr Ray Wheeler said that even though it was just a simple machine to the company as they have quite a number of them, he was glad to learn that it meant so much to the school.

“We are glad to have contributed something that mean so much to your daily needs. A school like Dinonyane primary is the future of Botswana, so it is important to support it for the future of the country,” he said.

Mr Wheeler also appreciated business partners, Canon, who donated the machine after learning that Komatsu Botswana wanted to buy it for the donation, as well as Bret Engineering for their contribution of the photocopying papers.

He assured the school that a technician would always be readily available to help if the machine failed. Mr Wheeler said they would in future consider assisting the school’s with its other needs.

He was responding to the school head, Ms Maureen Montwedi who had indicated in her welcome remarks that the school, which has an enrolment of more than 600 pupils and still growing, had lots of needs and was in dire need of assistance.

She appreciated Komatsu Botswana and its partners for having responded to their request for assistance, saying that the photocopying machine was one of their top most needs.

“We always run around begging and we appreciate you for heeding our plea,” she said. Touching on one of their needs, Ms Montwedi said that recently the Debswana Jwaneng mine installed smart boards in six of their classrooms, and said that the boards needed laptops which the school unfortunately did not have.

For her part, Jwaneng mayor, Ms Olga Ditsie commended Komatsu Botswana for its constant support of the town, citing past instances where the company employees assisted the council to collect waste when the council’s fleet was down, as well as supporting the mayor’s regeneration initiative, which aimed to make Jwaneng a clean town.

She said the council was supposed to provide schools with photocopying machines and papers, but because of serious financial challenges, the council was not managing, making the donation so valuable.

In his vote of thanks, principal education officer, Mr Bonolo Njadingwe said that studies showed that there was a link between academic performance and community involvement, hence the reason government was encouraging stakeholders to participate in the education system.

“So we thank Komatsu for coming on board. It is very expensive to run the education ministry as there are many needs in schools, so government cannot do it alone and needs good Samaritans like Komatsu,” he said.

Mr Njadingwe said that because of such shortages, school heads had to run around begging, thereby neglecting their administration duties. He said as such, Komatsu Botswana has contributed to the development of human capital. “Such little ones are our pawns in the chess board and we have to develop them into queens. So this contribution should be a direct challenge to the school to strive for a 100 per cent pass rate,” he said. 

Ends