05 Mar 2023

Jwaneng public library has halted basic computer training lessons offered to the public, owing to shortage of computers.

Addressing a full council session this week, Jwaneng Town Council (JTC) mayor, Ms Olga Ditsie noted that only six of the 14 computers at the library were functional and plans were underway to replace outdated ones. “Therefore, the basic computer training has been halted until after replacement.

Request has been made for replacement of obsolete computers,” she said.

She noted that a total of 994 people sought computer services from the public library in the last quarter, while 5 083 visited the library for various services.

Still on education, Ms Ditsie noted that council made an effort to increase revenue collection through school fees by increasing enrolment on their educational facilities such as Butler Dintwa Day Care Centre.

However, she noted that they only managed to register 88 learners from their envisaged target of 100 effective January 2023.

“A current good example was to target increasing enrolment of institutions such as Butler Dintwa Day Care Centre from 30 to 100 pupils in January.

We managed to register 88 pupils and only 79 paid their school fees.

We will continue to engage stakeholders with the aim to reach maximum enrolment, including in other educational facilities.

Additionally, the mayor said in an endeavour to promote early childhood education, all the 14 Early Childhood Care Centres were fully licenced and operational for this year, even though four of them were given temporary permits until April 2023.

However, she noted that council would continue to closely monitor the said facilities to ensure compliance and effective service delivery.

“Council will continue to facilitate these centres to ensure compliance to the Early Childhood Care and Education Policy of 2001 for improved provision of service,” she noted.

On social welfare issues, Ms Ditsie said council continued to monitor 15 orphaned children who were enrolled on a two-week psychotherapy retreat in December last year.

She noted that they were in collaboration with other child protection stakeholders to ensure that children effectively benefitted from the programme.

She noted that of all the 80 social welfare beneficiaries who were assisted with social safety nets, majority of them were orphans and needy students.

“The bulk of the services goes to orphans and needy students as they are also assisted with school related services such as uniform, toiletries and rentals,” She explained. ENDS