21 Jun 2016

The Ministry of Education and Skills Development has embarked on multi-million projects to expand three junior secondary schools in Maun through the Economic Stimulus Programme (ESP). 

The projects which will cost more than P217 million are part of the ministry's 47 projects planned for the ESP for the current financial year covering staff rooms, expansion of schools and maintenance country wide. The 47 projects include; 26 new classrooms, one science laboratory, 216 staff houses and 17 maintenance works.

Speaking during the ground breaking ceremony for Maun secondary schools project which include Tshwaragano, Tsodilo, and Maitlamo junior secondary schools on June 20, the Assistant minister of Education and Skills Development Mr Moiseraela Goya, said the projects would enhance teaching and learning environment.

He said public schools had been experiencing academic under performance over the years and shortage of critical inputs had been cited as one of the contributing factors. This he believed would be a thing of the past for these schools.

Mr Goya,  explained that the aim of ESP was to stimulate the economy for accelerated employment creation and economic diversification. From these Maun projects alone, he said many Batswana would be employed.

ESP, he said was going to be carried out in a number of phases and in phase one an estimated 1188 jobs would be created.

Once completed, Mr Goya said these projects would address issues that included students commuting long distances to and from schools. He said classrooms would relieve laboratories which had been used as base rooms.

Further, Mr Goya said construction of houses under these projects would ensure that accommodation challenges schools had been enduring would become a thing of the past.

The minister was however disturbed by the level of care of government facilities and vandalism. 

“I therefore request parents, teachers, students and all stakeholders to help keep these buildings intact once they are completed.”

Mr Goya said this could be done by adopting a collective responsibility approach where if no one was identified then all were responsible for fixing the problem.

“The government is making an investment which should last for years and it would be sad if these buildings which are being put up now could be vandalized soon after completion,” said the minister.

 He furthermore impressed upon companies carrying out these works to avoid cost overruns, scope variations, and poor quality work.

For his part, the ministry's director-regional operations in the North West, Mr Oupa Masesane, said they could only provide quality education if they were adequately resourced and had appropriate facilities to enhance teaching and learning.

He said the major challenge in his region was inadequate teaching space and shortage of accommodation for staff. Mr Masesane said some schools in his region were oversubscribed due to inadequate classrooms.

Most schools, he said were established as 15 or 18 streams and had grown beyond the capacity without expanding classrooms and staff houses. 

He said the schools had resorted to using laboratories, and specialised rooms to shelter learners.

“This arrangement has led to compromising the science and practical subjects,” he said adding that in their schools accommodation was 95 per cent shared, a situation that brought unhappiness to staff.

Mr Masesane was happy that through ESP his region had benefitted from the expansion of the academic area, kitchen and staff houses.

 This he said would restore the dignity of their learners and staff.

“I hope those who intended to apply for transfer will think again as ESP is bringing hope to us.”

“We will have a peace of mind knowing our teachers are well accommodated and almost all our learners will be under shelter.”

 Also, Mr Masesane was hopeful that academic results would improve in his reason as a results of these projects.

He said Maun area had been experiencing a serious challenge when it came to congestion in classrooms, and with Tshwaragano, Tsodilo, Maitlamo, Etsha and Okavango junior secondary schools receiving classrooms, and staff houses was a great relief.

Meanwhile, among the projects that will cost close to P76 million at Maitlamo JSS are three bedroomed double storey houses which are three in number, and two bedroomed double storey apartments which are eight in number. 

Tshwaragano JSS and Tsodilo JSS are carrying out projects worth P65 million and close to P76 million respectively. 

The total about of these projects is more that P217 million ENDS