27 Jun 2022

Stakeholder participation is critical in producing learners who have the right skills to compete globally.

This, according to former Minister of Agriculture, Mr Patrick Ralotsia, calls for all relevant stakeholders including teachers, parents, private sector to work together to achieve a common vision of producing qualified and capable leaders.

Mr Ralotsia was giving a keynote address at Mathiba Junior Secondary School excellence luncheon and awards ceremony on Friday in Kanye, where he gifted Remofilwe Magano and Shannel Paakanyo a heifer each for being best performers in 2020 JCE results.

Remofilwe and Shannel,  who obtained grade A were honoured during the ceremony themed: Academic Excellence a Foundation Towards Quality Citizens in the 21st Century Partnering with Key Players Who Share the Vision of Grooming Next Generation of Leaders.

Mr Ralotsia implored parents and teachers to play a pivotal role in the children’s education from a tender age, adding that this was the pathway to becoming globally competitive as a country.

He expressed concern about some parents who were reluctant to assist the school to reach its mandate, which had led to school’s poor performance.

He therefore pleaded with parents to play an active role in the their children’s education and to develop cordial relations with the school as well as to participate in school activities aimed at motivating the pupils.

Mr Ralotsia promised to participate more in encouraging parents to partake in school activities and initiatives designed to improve learners’ performance.

He said he was considering ways of luring others who shared the same sentiments of attaining that goal, noting that with the right programmes, initiatives and collaboration the learners would be positively impacted.

“I am passionate about real excellence. I want our pupils to compete fairly well with the rest of the world in academics. I am quite adamant that there are more who share the same ideals, and willing to partner towards this noble gesture,” he said.

He therefore advised the teachers to work hard in the quest to produce pupils who can fit well in anywhere in the world, with the understanding that education had potential to attract investors to the country.

Mr Ralotsia further advised the learners to exert effort towards their studies.

He cautioned that lack of quality education, eroded societal values and inability to access capacity building opportunities were some of the challenges bedeviling academic performance in schools.

He said it was important for pupils to understand the purpose of learning as through that, they would not be disrupted by immoral tendencies.

“Besides a few who have excelled, Mathiba has not been performing well academically over the past 10 years. This means that so far we are not proud of the performance of pupils in our catchment area,” he said.

In her motivational remarks, f Remofilwe advised the learners to develop cordial relations with their teachers as such would make it easy for them consult their teachers when need be.

She encouraged them to utilise their revision materials and use them more to test themselves.

Remofilwe also advised them to choose their friends wisely, and surround themselves with people could influence them positively.

Teachers were also awarded for producing A pupils in the 2020 JCE results, while current form 3’s were also given awards for their outstanding performances in the previous term.

Mr Abel Molalagare, the school grounds man bagged the School Head’s Special Awards for demonstrating positive work ethic, taking pride in his work, and positively contributing towards school academic performance. Ends