19 Dec 2013

Excitement, anxiety and anticipation are in the air as 72 learners from all over the country are getting ready for their first ever graduation ceremony in Chobe district.

Having been picked from eighteen primary schools across the country, the learners have been selected for a month long block training hosted by Kasane educational center. There is something very special about this group of learners; each of the learners has some form of disability.

The graduation is like any other except the learners are graduating from creative fields such as pottery, hospitality, flower arrangement, paper mâché, and basketry among others.

Kgosi Moffat Mwezi referred to the graduation as ‘impossibilities made possibilities.’ All the graduates are eighteen years and above. The stage is set and some of the students are in graduation gowns complete with hoods. It is clear that there are not enough gowns for everyone, so the learners will have to share the gowns.

Twenty-four-year old Lebogang is not too amused with this arrangement and she does very little to conceal her unhappiness. And yes, she is one of those without a gown.

But you can’t take anything away from Lebo’s dance moves. Get her on the stage and the whole atmosphere becomes alive. Her performance on this day is a repeat of her dazzling performance during the opening ceremony of the training about a month back.

Just a few rows behind her is the overly confident Matlhogonolo Tsholang who beckons me to take a photo of his picture perfect smile. He is eighteen years old and wants to work in a store after graduating from his pottery class.

Lebo and Matlhogonolo form part of the third graduating class of block training after two other groups that graduated two years earlier. One of the objectives of the training is to equip these young people with entrepreneurial skills for self-employment in line with Botswana’s education inclusive education policy.

As the ceremony gets underway, a teacher chaperons the learners, one at a time, to the stage. Each is awarded a certificate amidst applause and ululations from the teachers, other education personnel and some invited Chobe residents. There are no parents or relatives here.

While that can be understood given the fact that some of the learners come from as far away as Jwaneng, teachers have raised concern that parents of students with disabilities are not actively involved in their children’s education and some would even go for a whole term without seeing their children.

A major challenge is when perpetrators sexually abuse mentally challenged leaners according to a teacher representative Mr Rebaone Kgari. Currently there is no set curriculum for these learners, so teachers improvise.

The same teachers double as parents. And it is not an easy task. You need to have in store lots of love and patience.  “If you don’t have love, if you don’t realise that we are equal, you can’t get through to these [children],” said Guest speaker at the event, Member of Parliament for Okavango Mr Bagalatia Arone.

 As a chairman of the Parliamentary Portfolio committee on education, Mr Arone believes in a user friendly, inclusive education system. While the intention is to have this group and the two before it admitted at local brigades, that is sadly not possible immediately, says Principal education officer in Vocational and education training Ms Julia Baker-Kasongo.

While block training seeks to graduate learners who have outgrown primary school level, the brigades are not yet ready to absorb them due to some logistics which still have to be sorted out.

However what the learners acquire from the 4-week block training can help them generate income for themselves. In fact some of the graduates have found employment or gone on to open their own businesses. “We appeal to government departments to hire these children and give them a chance, they are honest and hardworking individuals,” she said.

Products created by the learners showed a high level of talent and skill. “These students have talent and skill, the difference is just the levels of that skill as some need more assistance than others,” says facilitator in the paper mash category Ms Vivian Mokgekge. She emphasises the need for support, patience and love.

This graduation marked the third leg of the block training since 2011. Fifty-nine learners graduated.  This year’s training ran from the 18th of November to the 13th of December.

Wrapping up by selling their works to the audience, there is no mistaking the excitement and pride that the students exude. What the future holds for them, only time will tell. ENDS