11 Nov 2013

Government needs to swiftly commence the process of transforming the primary education sector in an effort to make it more responsive to current and emerging  needs, says the Member of Parliament for Shoshong.

When responding to the President’s State-of-the-Nation Address in Parliament, Mr Phillip Makgalemele said it was critical for government to urgently consider ways through which education particularly at primary schools could be improved to meet modern days challenges.

He said primary education was the most important phase of a child’s education therefore more resources need to be channeled towards upgrading primary schools so that they can produce individuals who can be of great value to the country’s economy.

The Shoshong legislator added that public primary schools should be in a position to compete with the private English medium school in terms of producing higher pass rates.

He said the upgrading of public primary schools will also have a positive impact in luring the civil servants to work in rural areas since it is evident that a lot of public servants shun working in rural areas because of what they term as substandard education facilities for their children in rural areas.

He however applauded the introduction of the one year reception classes in public schools saying he remain optimistic that the program will yield positive results in preparing the child for formal education.

He also raised a concern at the shortage of science and computer laboratory in schools, adding that the current situation makes it impossible for students to do there practical and research works.

On other issues, Mr Makgalemela decried of shortage of government fleet in rural areas adding that the situation hinders service delivery in such areas.

He said his district usually encounters a lot of problems during preparations for major activities and natural disaster relief due to shortage of government vehicles. 

Sometimes, He said it is almost impossible for civil servants to take government programmes to communities since a number of government departments in Shoshong are operating without vehicles.   He singled out the health and law enforcement institutions as the mostly affected in his region. 

He noted that a lot of vehicles in his region have breakdowns more often and are not in good condition due to the difficult terrain they traverse.

Mr Makgalemela suggested government departments in urban areas should use minicabs and redeploy their fleet to their outstation offices where they are mostly needed to take government policies and services to the communities.

Mr Makgalemela further emphasized the need to transform rural areas into investments centers to reduce the rural-urban migration.  

He said rural areas need to be turned into robust investment areas to empower the locals and reduce dependency on government programs. Ends