19 Feb 2014

Member of Parliament for Mogoditshane, Mr Patrick Masimolole has called on opposition parties to offer solutions rather than calling for the resignation of the Minister of Education and Skills Development.

He said education required all stakeholders to play a meaningful role, saying they were also concerned about the poor JC results.

MP Masimolole, who is also the Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development, said the results were negatively affected by the public service strike as the students were then doing Form 1 and therefore were not given proper foundation.

He said another factor that contributed to poor results was the student/teacher ratio as some teachers had 45 to 50 students in one class. Such an environment made it difficult especially for slow learners, he added.

Mr Masimolole also cited indiscipline amongst the students as one factor, saying students engaged in alcohol and substance abuse, hence the need to encourage parents to play a meaningful role in the education of their children.

He said although his ministry had been allocated a lion’s share of the budget, the truth was that funds were not enough. Talking about the budget speech, he said it had adequately addressed education, agriculture and health sectors.

On agriculture, he said government was serious about the agricultural sector especially ISPAAD as it had increased the amounts paid to tractor owners.

The MP said his area was faced with shortage of water adding that since Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) took over water reticulating responsibilities, the number of complaints regarding the bills had increased.

He also called for improvements in internal roads and complained that streetlights were not repaired on time. MP Masimolole further said the Mogoditshane Police Station was dirty and not a good environment for anyone to work in.  ENDS