26 Feb 2014

Chairperson of the North East District Council, Mr City Kealotswe says he is happy that schools in the district performed well in the 2013 final examinations.

Delivering his speech at the beginning of the ordinary full council meeting recently, Mr Kealotswe noted that their region managed to clinch position one in the whole country with an overall pass rate of 82.6 per cent in the standard seven primary school examinations.

As for the junior secondary schools, the region got position two with an 82 per cent  quantity pass rate nationally. For that, the chairperson said the outstanding performance was a result of a good working relationship between all stakeholders in the district.

Councillor Kealotswe commended all parents teachers associations, school supervisors and education stakeholders in the district for the job well done and urged them to maintain the spirit for the good of the district and Botswana as a whole.

On other issues, he briefed councillors about the recent 2014/15 national budget speech, saying though the budget was promising, it reflected that the country’s economic situation was very uncertain.

Mr Kealotswe said this called for heads of departments in the district to exercise prudent financial management, adding that they should learn to live within their financial capabilities.

He further said the overall budget for the 2014/15 financial year was P 133.2 million for the council  adding that the council was required to collect P7.6 million  from its sources of income.

Mr Kealotswe further informed them that the Ministry of Youth Sport and Culture would introduce the Botswana National Service Programme  with effect from April 1  this year, adding that that programme catered for youth aged between 20 and 30.

He said so far the district had received 1 630 applications, noting that the numbers were expected to change due to transfers from other districts.

Regarding the restocking exercise in Zone 6, the chairmperson said that the exercise was still ongoing due to some logistical challenges.

However, he said he hoped it would be concluded before April this year. ENDS