24 Feb 2014

Community leaders gathered at Madiba Senior Secondary School in Mahalapye recently to address students about their unbecoming behaviour.

This followed incidents where some students were involved in fights with their teachers. Things went out of control when one student threw a stone at a male teacher, missed and injured a female teacher.

Another student threw a bottle at a teacher and injured him while another threw punches at a female teacher. The village chief, Mr Duncan Segotsi expressed disappointment towards the students’ behaviour, saying it was sad that every time bad things happened in the village, Madiba students were listed as culprits, something which he said they should be ashamed of.

“I believe that you are here for education and that only so you can make it to universities, for you to be coming here and beating up teachers is just out of line,” said Kgosi Segotsi. Kgosi Segotsi said students should talk to their representatives when they had problems and not resort to violence because it had never solved anything.

He also urged students to see their guidance and counseling teachers whenever they had problems.  He said Batswana were not warmongers and were shocked by  what the students did.

“There are rules everywhere including here in school, and students should abide by those rules, and if you think that those rules are unfavorable somehow, you have the people who can listen to your grievances and take them to those who can solve them,” he said.

Kgosi Segotsi encouraged students to focus solely on education and stay away from things that can ruin their future like alcohol and drugs.

“Nowadays there is no life without education, so to be someone in life you have to take it  seriously so you can have a brighter future and great legacy for you  and your family, if you are take your studies for granted you are going to work for those who did and it would not be nice”, Kgosi Segotsi said.

Mahalapye police station commander, Mr Amos Kekgathetse also expressed his disappointment. He told the students that they had a responsibility to decide what they wanted to be in life and that laws were made to control people, and law implementation could ruin a student’s life. He told them to be respectful to their teachers as they were there to assist them mould their futures.

“My being here can solve very little, you are the ones who have the power to solve everything and shape your destinies, there are no jobs in this country and if you do not work hard it would not make things any easier”, said Mr Kekgathetse.

He said that he is only being lenient with them because they are students but once they are done with school, he would not hesitate to arrest them. For his part public relations officer for the central region in the ministry of education, Mr Rampotho Kedikilwe said the ministry had rules that protected teachers and students from any kind of abuse.

"I was shocked to learn that some of you have been abusing teachers, these behavior will get you expelled and you will never find your way into government schools again”, Mr Kedikilwe warned. He also expressed great displeasure at seeing the students roaming the school all day and urged them to return to class with immediate effect.

The students were said to have not been attending class since Tuesday, February 18. ENDS