17 Jun 2025

Funeral arrangements for the seven-year-old, Baone Ngongorego of Khwee Primary School are underway, says Assistant Minister of Child Welfare and Basic Education, Mr Justin Hunyepa.

Briefing the media in Gaborone on Monday, following the death of the Standard One pupil, he said her body was at the Orapa Hospital for post-mortem to determine the cause of death. 

He said Ngongorego died on June 12 trying to flee as learners believed to have seen an unknown creature in their hostel.

He said the deceased, who got startled out of sleep in response to the alarm, lost direction and in the state of confusion, tried to use the window to escape while others scrambled at the doorway.

He said while trying to escape, her sweater hood got caught up in a broken bed she slept on and her sister and other learners tried to pull her out of the window causing her suffocation and haemorrhage on the head.

Mr Hunyepa said there were eight caregivers in the school who knocked off at 6pm but had now been incorporated to accompany learners at bedtime since they were still traumatised. 

He said Boteti District Council and the Ministry of Child Welfare and Basic Education would provide emotional support to both teachers and pupils.

Meanwhile, the assistant minister said there were 700 pupils in Khwee Primary School, of which 219 were housed in the school hostel.

He further said there was no electricity in the school, located 60km from Letlhakane, adding that they had since installed solar lights in the hostels while waiting Botswana Power Corporation to switch on the grid for provision of electricity.

In addition, he said one of the school hostels and one classroom had been closed due to their bad state.

Mr Hunyepa further said all the 24 RADS primary schools across the country were in a bad state since they had not been maintained for a long time.

He said government was in talks with development partners and local companies to help renovate schools. ENDS