17 Mar 2025

Parents should play an active role in their children’s development, providing love and guidance both at home and in the school setting, says First Lady  Kaone Boko.

She made the remarks when donating gifts to three primary schools in Sankoyo on Friday and noted that  children’s upbringing depended on parents who recognised their needs and provided for them. The donation included 348 school shoes and Sankoyo primary received 129, Kgosietsile 121 and Khwai was gifted 111 shoes.

The First Lady also donated sanitary, pads to Sedie and Tshwaragano junior secondary schools in Maun. Ms Boko also donated some printers to the primary schools while Sankoyo health post received two computers and printers courtesy of Chobe Holdings Company. Kgosietsile primary also received a projector to reinforce effective teaching and learning.

Ms Boko urged parents to embrace their responsibility to care for the basic needs of their children  including creating a supportive and nurturing environment. She appreciated efforts made by the regional Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) to revive schools’ PTA whose role fostered strong partnership between parents, teachers and the school community.

“I was disturbed to learn from the village leadership that pupils navigate wildlife such as buffaloes on their way to school.  This poses danger to their lives and I believe through effective PTA in collaboration with the community, such challenges can be addressed,” she added.

Despite that, Ms Boko was impressed to learn that issues of child abuse in Sankoyo were rare and gave credit to the village chief, Kgosi Gokgatlhang Moalosi and other stakeholders for taking the responsibility to protect and care for children.

In other villages, she said child abuse and neglect were rampant and urged Sankoyo leadership to maintain the good work and continue nurturing children to ensure they grow to become responsible people who contributed to society’s development. She also appreciated the tourism industry’ contribution in improving education system.

Giving an overview of education in the North West District, regional education director, Ms Veronica Mochotli said they were taking care of 75 primary schools, 13 junior schools and two senior secondary schools with 56 759 leaners accessing education.

Some schools, she said experienced an increase in enrolment, adding that shortage of infrastructure such as classrooms remained a challenge, resulting in learners being taught under trees.

For academic performance, she said the region was amongst the bottom three out of ten regions, but noted that they had seen value addition of 60.4 per cent at primary schools, 29.3 per cent at juniors and 16.5 per cent at senior secondary schools hoping that things would improve for the better.

She acknowledged stakeholder collaboration saying it had been instrumental in encouraging good academic performance. Ms Mochotli said they established satellite schools in an effort to reduce distance travelled by pupils especially young ones.

Furthermore, she said about 47 primary schools in the district implemented the mother tongue policy, and appreciated internet connectivity in schools saying it enhanced teaching and learning.

The gathering also learnt that high staff turnover was serious challenge as teachers were reluctant to work in the district advancing health reasons. Ms Mochotli said 10 per cent of teachers were on temporary basis, which was a challenge as they could leave anytime. ENDS