Japanese Embassy hands over classrooms
Correspondent | Tuesday February 21, 2017 14:42
Ambassador Masahiro Onishi said that his office signed a grant contract of $70,018 (over P700,000) with Mogoditshane/Thamaga Sub District for the construction of the block which has two classrooms.
He was speaking at the hand-over Ceremony between the Japanese Embassy and Mogoditshane/ Thamaga Sub District Council under the theme ‘Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Projects’.
“This is the 43rd project among a total of 47 projects that our Embassy has assisted under this grant scheme in Botswana since 1997. According to the recent statistics, the primary school enrolment rate is more than 90% in Botswana.
“I believe it shows how the Government of Botswana has considered basic education as one of the priority areas since its Independence. It is certain that the intensive dedication of the government to education has brought not only an increase of access to primary education, but also the remarkable development of the country in the last 50 years”.
The Ambassador said that it is important to enhance the quality of education and to secure high rate of enrolment. He said that the assistance from Japanese Government has been contributing to improve the quality of basic education through construction of classrooms, pre-primary school facilities and other projects. The school has had a serious shortage of classrooms to the extent that children were taught under trees.
“It is, therefore, my pleasure today to see children with smiles on their faces have started to learn at these new classrooms. However, it was not an easy process. The biggest challenge was to secure additional funds since the actual construction cost had turned out more than the original cost estimation. Although this is a really tough issue, it was finally overcome by the effort of Mogoditshane/Thamaga Sub District Council”.
He thanked all stakeholders who ensured that the project was completed, and those who played a role in improving academic performance of the school in recent years.
“Remarkably, in the last few years, the Serameng Primary School has achieved exceptional academic results in spite of the shortage of classrooms.
I am confident that this is because of the untiring efforts by pupils, teachers, staffs and parents. And I am certain that this new classroom block will bring even higher motivation and academic performance of the children”.