Shakawe rejects Venson-Moitoi�s decision � Arone
Gothataone Moeng | Tuesday April 1, 2014 12:24
Arone told Parliament on Friday that he had spoken to traditional leaders in the constituency following the ministry’s surprise announcement, and they told him they would not accept the ministry’s decision.
The MoESD announced the decision two days before Parliament was scheduled to debate the Arone sponsored motion, asking the ministry to allow the failed Shakawe SSS students to repeat. The students, the first to graduate from the troubled senior school, had the worst performance of the year, with a 7.4 pass rate in their Form Five exams. Both the ministry and Arone agree that the students failed due to circumstances beyond their control, including a delayed completion of the school building, shortage of staff, shortage of facilities and equipment in specialised labs.
Arone said he brought the motion, which was defeated on Friday, following consultations with his constituents. He said he was surprised that Minister Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi made her announcement on television when she knows that many people in his constituency do not have televisions. He said the minister did not consult before the announcement.
“What the ministry has done is an insult. You can’t make a decision without consulting the people who are affected,” he said.
He said he did not trust the ministry’s promise that they would do all they can to ensure the students get a fair chance at learning. In a statement last week, the ministry said BOCODOL would be engaged to teach and tutor the affected students, but did not state how the distance-learning institution would help students with their practical courses.
“We can no longer trust your promises, when the students were in Maun, you said you were going to put strategies in place to ensure they would catch up. But 80 percent of the time they were not in classes,” Arone said.
The students were taken to Maun SSS when they missed a full term waiting for their school to be completed, but even at Maun they had to be sent home after their host school caught fire. Arone said he had suggested that after their first year, the students should not be allowed to proceed to Form Five, but the ministry said they had strategies to ensure the students would catch up. The Botswana Congress Party (BCP) MP said BOCODOL was not the answer, and said the students would not have improved at the end of the year.
Meanwhile, Maun East MP Tawana Moremi said the debacle of the students’ dismal performance was due to corruption. Shakawe SSS was found to have been constructed without brick-force. “How could a simple engineering concept be skipped in the construction of the school? These students were prevented from their schooling because of the corruption that pertains in the current government,” Moremi said.