04 Dec 2024

Education plays a key role in ensuring that a country becomes self-reliant and for that to happen, the curriculum must produce graduates who are able to cultivate and feed the country, says Lephephe/Lentsweletau Member of Parliament, Mr Tshenolo Bogatsu.

Contributing to the State-of- the-Nation Address debate recently, Mr Bogatsu said that could only be guided by priorities of the government of the day.

He pointed out that Botswana had relied on imports for a long time. Therefore, he said the education system must change to create the impact that the government desired for the country.

Talking about his constituency needs, the MP said Lephephe/Lentsweletau was neglected for a long time and remained underdeveloped, lacking necessities such as roads, job opportunities and adequate health facilities.

Mr Bogatsu said primary schools in the constituency were overcrowded with classes taught outside, pupils travelling long distances to school and some ferried on donkey carts, which subjected learners to undignified treatment.

Lephephe/Lentsweletau underdevelopment resulted in poverty with no economic opportunities for the community, Mr Bogatsu said,  emphasising  that there was a need for the government to engage with the poor with an aim to understand how they could be assisted to graduate from poverty because what they needed was not charity but to be empowered.

The problem, he said, was that this group of people was never consulted on what could work for them, to graduate from poverty, adding that government programmes tended to treat people equally, disregarding their socio-economic background and geographical location.

Mr Bogatsu said expectations were high across the country for the new government and appealed that they should not disappoint.

He said the Umbrella for Democratic Change in its campaign promised an inclusive economy that worked for all and was hopeful that the government would work hard to achieve that.

In a democratic set-up, democracy becomes practical when the ruling does the will of the people said Mr Bogatsu. Ends