16 Oct 2014

The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Peter Siele has hailed the importance of the private sector in education development.

When officiating at the handover of two classrooms donated by Mr Liu Bing at Serameng Primary School in Metsimotlhabe on October 14, Mr Siele said the donation would go a long way in addressing classroom shortage in the school.

The minister commended Mr Liu, who is an entrepreneur, for the gesture adding government had come up withthe  Adopt-A-School initiative that had proved to be fruitful in addressing some of the challenges faced by schools.

He said although the initiative had just been around for few years, the private sector had already shown keen interest in contributing to the development of the education sector. Minister Siele further added that government had already budgeted for over P500 million to address backlog in schools.

He explained that the budget would cater for shortage of classrooms, staff accommodation and renovation of some facilities.  Mr Siele encouraged parents to play a leading role in the education of their children by working hand in hand with teachers.

The school head, Mr Elias Segwagwe said the two classrooms were a welcome development as they had been forced to reject some students ready for standard one due to shortage of classrooms. Currently the school has an enrolment of 810 students and 15 classrooms, which has resulted in eight classes being taught outside.

He requested for the expansion of the school funds permitting saying the growth of the city also contributed to their increased enrolment. Further, he said despite shortage of other facilities such as laboratories, the school’s pass rate has been fluctuating between 70 per cent and 92 per cent over the years.

For his part, Mr Liu Bing said he decided to build the classroom block after realising that some students were being taught under the trees.

He said as an entrepreneur, he believed this was an opportunity to give back to the community and further encouraged students to study hard for a better future. ENDS