26 Aug 2024

Establishment of Shakawe Senior Secondary School a decade ago signifies government’s commitment to quality education.

The school, which was housed at Maun Senior Secondary School April 2012 when it started off, had reason to celebrate 10 years of existence on August 21.

Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development, Honourable Nnaniki Makwinja said at the celebration that its coming into being helped to curb the distance learners had to travel from Okavango District to Ghanzi and Maun, which sometimes led to challenges such as limited parental support resulting in undesirable educational outcomes.

Its existence has contributed positively to the education system since parents could easily check on their children, Ms Makwinja said.

The school officially moved to Shakawe village in 2013, after completion of its premises, during which year the first cohort of Form Fives sat for Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) examination.

Ms Makwinja said 48 leaners out of 624 candidates achieved five credits, a figure that translated to a pass rate of 7.69 per cent, placing the school in the last position of 32 senior secondary schools in the country.

Things improved for the better because in 2015, it had a top achiever, who was ranked position six nationally with seven A* and two Bs. Last year, the school had 726 candidates who sat for BGCSE exams and 166 achieved five credits or more, a 22.87 per cent pass rate, Ms Makwinja said, adding that the results were an improvement and sign of hard work from the school’s early years.

She also said the school was excelling in different sporting codes, more especially athletics.

The school’s Parents Teacher Association (PTA) contribution was recognised for the success.

Shakawe East councillor, Mr Lesedi Boy said the 10th anniversary celebration was evidence of hard work, which he said bore positive results despite the fact that the school was for sometime faced with such challenges as teenage pregnancy and poor academic performance. ENDS