He was expressing the concerns of students last Friday before the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tonota South, Pono Moathodi, who came to address the problems encountered by the students.
Lekoba said companies that tendered to provide books are not doing their job as expected, which results in books being submitted late or they sometimes fail to provide books at all. “I want to urge you as our MP to take this matter to Parliament. From the experiences we have undergone, we feel that the current tendering systems be reviewed if not removed,” he told Moathodi.
Speaking to Monitor after the consultative address, the SRC president expressed concern that the library is not open at the relevant times. He pointed out that the college library closes early before the students finish reading.
“Vision 2016 states that we should be an informed and educated nation, but if we encounter these kind of problems we will not achieve our vision,” he said. Lekoba appealed to the school management to increase the library staff so that some could work during later hours.
Further more, he asserted that students, especially women, do not enjoy free movement around the college, even in their rooms. “Two nights ago, one lady was attacked and robbed in her room,” explained Lekoba. He appealed to the MP to take their grievances seriously saying if not addressed, it would lead to their failure in academics.
Speaking to Monitor, TCE principal Leonard Mutheto agreed with the SRC president that the college is experiencing a shortage of books. However, he said the problem was a countrywide issue. He revealed that private companies are invited to tender for the supply of books but sometimes there is a delay in the process. He explained that most books needed by the college are ordered from outside the country therefore it is a long process. “The government’s financial year cuts out our academic year and we have a problem in buying books,” lamented Mutheto. He indicated that the college management was under negotiations with the Ministry of Education to buy them books in advance. He explained that books are needed every beginning of the year.
The principal cited the recent currency devaluation saying it has affected the prices of books, which has badly affected the process of buying books.
However, he pointed out that the college management was doing its best to solve the problem. “We are trying to reschedule the tendering period so that it corresponds with our academic year. We decided to start orders in time before the start of the academic year, December and January,” he told Monitor. He asserted that the issue was on the table at the ministerial and college level.
Concerning the library, the principal explained that the library was an administrative issue. He said the current library staff were not government employees and were not liable to be paid overtime. He disclosed that their conditions of work do not allow them to be paid overtime. “At the moment, there is no arrangement for them to work overtime,” he confirmed.
He said the only alternative they have was to give the employees days off but again this would create more problems as they have to take more days off. He explained that they always provide feed back to SRC, and they expect SRC also to consult management if ever they feel something was not going well. “Instead of riots,” he added. He said riots would not serve any purpose to the college academics, social responsibility or any professional nature. He urged students and staff to consult each other at any time to overcome the challenges of the institution.
Meanwhile, Moathodi encouraged students to make right decisions when choosing subjects to avoid the increasing rate of unemployment. He asked students to do subjects like Commerce, Computer Studies, Accounts and Business Studies among other subjects.
