Gantsi battles rising student dropouts

Leinanyana Tsiane | Wednesday December 17, 2014 20:32

 

Speaking in his maiden address to the Gantsi District Council this week, new chairperson, Thato Tshweneyagae described the number of dropouts as shocking, adding that figures are growing continuously. He said this year alone, 362 pupils dropped out of primary schools, while 94 and 31 students dropped out of junior and secondary schools respectively.

“The majority of cases are from settlements as opposed to mainstream villages. I appeal to you Honourable Councillors to help fight this unacceptable behaviour among our children. You need to engage the parents and come up with long lasting solutions to this scary situation.”

Tshweneyagae said Gantsi would benefit from a countrywide effort to improve education infrastructure under which all secondary schools are undergoing major expansion such as sewer connections, electrical works, staff houses and new classes.

At Gantsi Senior Secondary School, the repair of a burnt laboratory block is nearing completion despite being behind schedule. Tshweneyagae said similar improvements are being carried out under the Primary School Backlog Programme. Three schools in the district are expected to benefit this year.

“These schools are K”Joe, Kgaphamadi and Boipelo in Charleshill. This programme will also address shortage of toilets, staff accommodation and classrooms in the said schools,” he added. He expressed concern over rising crime in the district, saying numbers had particularly been climbing in the second half of the year.

The crimes on the increase, he said, range from housebreaking, robbery, rape, and stocktheft. “The increase in crime may be due to several factors such as shortage of manpower, lack of transport, poorly resourced police stations, lack of communications equipment and lack of accommodation and office space,” he said.

Tshweneyagae said the rehabilitation and expansion of Gantsi township water supply infrastructure is ongoing, having been divided into two phases. The over P82 million tender for the first phase has been awarded and 37 percent of the work has been down. The completion date is September 2015.

“The Water Utilities Corporation was also able to replace water tanks at Ncojane, Tsootsha and Chobokwane at a cost of P2.9 million to address leakages,” he said.

Gantsi District has been allocated more than P6 million for roads maintenance and 3.4km of roads in the township will be resealed and marked. In Ncojane, eight kilometres of internal roads will be gravelled while 2.5km will be gravelled in Kacgae.