18 Mar 2014

The Adopt-a-School initiative has injected P251 million into education since its inception in 2011, Mr Billy Loeto, an official of the Education Hub, said in Serowe on Friday, March 14.

Mr Loeto said at the BOTUSAFE Adopt-a-School presentation at Makolo Primary School, that this meant a saving of the money that government could have spent on education.

He explained that the programme did not require billions of Pula but that any form of assistance was welcome. He said scrutiny was done before any one could adopt a school to guard against instances whereby individuals adopt school for personal gain.

Makolo Primary School headteacher, Ms Dimpho Lefoko, said the school improved its performance over the past two years to reach a 59 per cent pass rate in 2011 and a 46 per cent pass rate in 2012. She said BOTUSAFE adopted the school in 2013 and bought revision books, leading to an 85 per cent pass rate.

“We are the best improved school in our region,” she stated. Ms Lefoko said the school had its own performance improvement tactics: each teacher adopt two to three standard seven students.  This year, Ms Lefoko adopted seven students. Another local initiative was that parents visit the school in the afternoons to inspect academic progress.

Challenges that confront Makolo Primary School include shortage of classrooms and cleaning material as well as aged furniture.n “We have 12 classes but we have eight class rooms” she said, adding that two classes and kitchen does not have electricity.

She hailed the Parents and Teacher Association and the Village Development Committee for supporting performance improvement effort. ENDS