23 Aug 2022

The Ministry of Education and Skills Development needs to formulate a school programme that will create a conducive environment for learners, families and educators to effectively deal with the children’s mental problems.

Miss Millennium, Ms Mimi Majube made the plea during a mental and emotional development seminar in Gaborone on Sunday, saying COVID-19 had affected a large fraction of the society and had left many with mental conditions to deal with.

Ms Majube, who is a teacher by profession, said since the advent of COVID-19, learners had been displaying signs of frustration, anxiety, fear and attention deficit.

She, therefore, said parents needed to be equipped to recognise symptoms of mental issues in children so as to promptly attend to the underlying issues.

She implored parents and guardians to look out for signs that children may need additional support in coping mentally and emotionally.

Ms Majube said of late, Botswana schools had been experiencing learners’ suicide, learners murdered by peers, bullying, drug and substance use, adding for that reason mental health education had to be infused in the education system.

She further stressed the need for parents to also avail time and put more effort in nurturing children mentally.

“Dikole fa di tswetswe batsadi ba nna ba botsa gore di bulwa leng, go supa fa ba lapisitswe ke go nna le bana,” she said, adding that such statements showed that parents had assigned the duties of parenting to teachers.

Sharing the sentiments,  Botswana Network for Mental Health founding director, Ms Charity Kennedy said mental health affected every aspect of life, as such everyone needed to be cognizant of mental health issues in order to be able to prevent the resultant mental illnesses.

Ms Kennedy, who said she was positively living with mental disorder at a stable level, stressed the importance of attending to a mental problem before it developed  into an illness.

Giving testimony, she said she was a survivor of major depression, which made her anxious and suicidal, adding that if her issues were left to pile up, they could have led to a more serious condition, even death.

Ms Kennedy also encouraged her audience to seek a strong spiritual connection with a supreme being, which she said could be helpful in dealing with mental situations.

“Be it Buddha or God, that connection will uplift you mentally,” she said. She also advised people to normalise routine visits to therapists, saying once in a while, ‘even if you feel things are going on well, you should visit a therapist for a fresh perspective’. ENDS