05 Jul 2023

The Ministry of Education and Skills Development is committed to providing access and equitable education to all children starting from pre-primary up to tertiary, Minister Douglas Letsholathebe has said.

He told Parliament that  Jwaneng/Mabutsane constituency had 23 public primary schools and an overall number of 45 teachers, which was inclusive of 24 pre-primary school teachers and 21 teacher aides at pre-primary level.

“This, therefore, means each primary school has one teacher aide as per the prescribed standard,” he said.

Additionally, he said, Dinonyane Primary School had 20 learners with special educational needs and three special needs teachers. He said  the school had not admitted, nor registered, any learners for Primary School Leaving Examination since 2018.

During 2022, Dr Letsholathebe said, the total number of learners enrolled at pre-primary stood at 8 849 for the Jwaneng/Mabutsane constituency. 

The minister said that from 2018 to date the constituency experienced a total dropout figure of 89 at primary.

He explained that dropouts at pre-primary due to truancy was not significant as per the policy because the assumption was that at that stage pupils were not considered to have dropped out since they were all expected to return to school at any time.

Jwaneng/Mabutsane MP, Mr Mephato Reatile had wanted to know the total number of pre-school teachers and teacher aides in the constituency, special needs pupils and special needs teachers, teacher aides in each pre-primary class, pupils enrolled in the schools in 2022 and pupils who had dropped out of pre-primary schools in 2022 (truancy rate).

He also wanted the minister to state the total number of state owned primary schools in the constituency, staff per category stationed at each school, pupils who had dropped out of primary school from 2018 to date (truancy rate), special needs pupils and special needs teachers in primary schools, pupils registered as special needs teachers in primary schools, pupils registered as special needs for the PSLE from 2018 to date as well as teacher aides in each primary school. ENDs