Mmegi, KCC partner in Chiepe leadership award
Correspondent | Tuesday February 24, 2015 11:12
The director of KCC, Barolong Mouwane told Mmegi, that the award would go a long way in helping carve future leaders. The award is open to learners in secondary schools only.
“We chose Chiepe for the award because she embodies the attributes we would like to instill in the upcoming generations. One of these is that a leader is first and foremost a servant of the people that he or she leads. If we can have learners aspire to be leaders like Chiepe, this country will go far,” he said.
The Mmegi Dr Chiepe Young Leadership Award aims to recognise outstanding young leaders in secondary schools, who not only lead by example but also use their skills to transform other people’s lives.
The retired Chiepe, who has held numerous Cabinet portfolios including the ministries of Education and Foreign Affairs, expressed her gratitude for having an award named after her. “I feel honoured, humbled and most grateful,” she said.
Chiepe further said during her years in policy-making education was wracked by many challenges.
“The principal problems were inadequacy of facilities as well as too few and far distances between schools. In some areas there were no schools at all,” she said, reminiscing about the times she would walk from one village to the next, to try and encourage communities to work together to build schools.
“I was an education officer at the time, and one of my duties was to go around and inspect education centers. I did not just inspect but also helped. I worked with teachers in order to find ways forward. I was always listening to teachers even those who were less qualified,” she said.
Chiepe said the collective responsibility was the main ingredient to success in education, citing Bamangwato who came together to build Moeng College, Bangwaketse who built Kgari Sechele Secondary School, and Bakgatla who built Molefhi Secondary School as examples.
“I became one of Botswana’s co-founders of good education policies because I was able to listen and learn from the people I led. There must be input from the learners and the teachers,” she explained.
The first winner of the award will be announced in December 2015. This gives learners across all schools in the country ample time to build themselves, as well as their profiles.