03 Dec 2013

Many Batswana continue to benefit from government initiatives geared at improving their livelihoods.

With the aim to reach the Vision 2016 pillar of being an educated and informed nation, government came up with the Back to School initiative to allow learners to upgrade their qualifications.

The chairperson of the Kgatleng District Council, Mr Tona Mooketsi, said at the beginning of the full council meeting on December 2 that 2 400 applications were received in Kgatleng last year.

Mr Mooketsi said 690 students were placed in different institutions, most of whom were upgrading their junior certificate qualifications while 527 have enrolled with the Botswana College of Distance and Open Learning.

He said placement to technical colleges was limited because account of shortage of qualified lecturers in the relevant institutions. Nonetheless, he said the recently signed memorandum of understanding between Botswana and Zimbabwe gives hope as this would alleviate shortage of qualified lecturers.

On other educational matters, Mr Mooketsi said the Ministry of Education and Skills Development would pilot a pre-school education programme to expose young learners of 412 years to school environment before they start standard one.

He said Kgatleng District was among the selected regions to pilot this programme in six primary schools and the pilot projects effects on January 2014. Mr Mooketsi said education mentors and Umbrella Parent Teacher Association (PTA) conducted visits to 18 schools to consult stakeholders on involvement of parents on their children’s work.

He said parents should be part of their children’s education, hence the two bodies have been doing a commendable job in bridging the gap between pupil’s parents and children’s school work.

He implored councillors to support this initiative by playing an active role of ensuring that the mentors received the support they need through the PTAs. Ends