28 May 2023

Pupils of Meepong Junior Secondary School have been challenged to think beyond the confines of the classroom to become innovators of note who will contribute to the country’s aspirations of being a knowledge-based economy.

President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi made the call during his visit to the school on Friday as he shared that government had put in a budget to ensure that each learner and teacher was issued a laptop.

“You deserve it because you are working hard and your teachers deserve it too because they have been sacrificing a lot with the little they have. 

Government is going to give a laptop to all teachers and pupils in the third term,” he said in recognition of the school’s achievement as the country’s most outstanding in the 2022 Junior Certificate Exam (JCE) results. 

The school attained position one with a 72.67 per cent MABC pass rate, beating more than 200 junior secondary schools in the country.

He thus encouraged them to use ICT to come up with applications that could help transform the lives of Batswana and generate income for the country.

“When you get your laptops I want you to develop a new super application that could be used by all pupils of Africa register it, protect it and sell it. 

The creators of Facebook and many other applications are people like you and your teachers. 

I have given you the connectivity and I am going to give you laptops.”

Dr Masisi said because of the leadership that he had provided, he had been able to negotiate and sign agreements with countries in Africa so that Botswana could trade with them.

“To lead an innovative society I want each of you to be an innovator because when we position ourselves against other countries we are unable to compete with them on a number of scores, one of them being population size and therefore market size,” he said.

Further, he informed teachers that their salaries and welfare would improve if the country started innovating.

He also thanked Meepong JSS teachers and all the ohers across the country for moulding children into responsible beings, adding that it was not an easy job.

“You must always thank and respect your teachers. Teachers are people who sacrifice a lot and sometimes dealing with emotional beings and characters can be a heavy emotional burden,” he said.

He thanked parents and stakeholders in Selebi Phikwe, particularly those who supported the school, urging all parents and stakeholders to emulate them.

Dr Masisi, who trained as a teacher, urged Meepong pupils to maintain their first position in the coming exams.

Meanwhile, Dr Masisi informed them that part of his job was to ensure that students who came after them had a bright future, which required peace, governance and the rule of law so that there was a certainty that pupils would arrive at school safely unlike in some parts of the world where learners were not safe.

For his part, the school head, Mr Thulaganyo Mbulawa attributed Meepong JSS’ success to the hard working and disciplined pupils including committed teachers who could go an extra mile to teach outside normal working hours.

He also explained that the school had a powerful Parents Teachers Association.

He also said the school prided itself in good stakeholder participation, adding that through stakeholder participation the school received internet connectivity as well as Smart Bots application and 240 memory sticks.

Meepong JSS Students Representative Council general secretary, Cairo Dipitse thanked Dr Masisi and his entourage for visiting the school and motivating the school community to continue working hard.

She thanked teachers for their sacrifice and encouraged fellow learners to respect and love their educators.

She also promised to ensure that pupils helped the country realise its dream of becoming an innovative society. ENDS