Delay in land allocation frustrates school owner

CALISTUS KOLANTSHO
Correspondent | Monday November 22, 2010 00:00

School director Kathleen Taolo has told The Monitor in an interview that the future of her school depends on the outcome of a recent Ngwato Land board meeting.

She explained that her school has been running on a waiver from the Ministry of Education and Skills Development, which expires next month. 'The ministry gave us a waiver in 2009 when the school was registered and we were instructed to apply for a permanent licence after being allocated a plot. The school will be fully registered when we have our own plot on which to build a fully-fledged campus.

'The future of the school is uncertain because if we do not get a plot it means the school must close its doors,' she said. Taolo said she had identified a plot at Phase One Location in 2007 and applied for it at the Department of Lands but its allocation was delayed. When enquiring about the plot after some time, she said the department told her to tender for the plot. She said she was advised to wait for an advertisement of the plot and tender for it just like everyone else. This shocked her as in 2007 she was not told to tender for the plot.

Thankfully, a Good Samaritan gave her a piece of land at Phokoje settlement near the Mmadinare junction. But she could only develop the plot after the land board done the legal transfer and the go-ahead, something she is still waiting for. In the meantime, her school is renting a space at Leseding Mall, which is not big enough to accommodate many students. Despite these challenges, her school is doing well. Edulink offers classes from Form One up to Form Five.  'Our first batch of Form Fives that sat for their exams last year, 17 of them managed to perform well and have been admitted to institutions of higher learning.  Currently 32 students have been writing their Form Five examinations. When compared to other private schools in our area, our school fees are affordable because the idea is to cater for everyone,' said Taolo. 

She explained that parents were also impressed by the quality of education that the school is offering.

Edulink has six qualified teachers and a headmaster with more than 30 years' experience.

Taolo is a teacher by training and has also done public relations and customer training under the Department of Vocational Education and Training (DVET). She stated that the idea to start a school struck her when she was working at Selebi-Phikwe Technical College (SPTECO). Upon retirement, she pursued her dream.  She explains that she wanted to provide for students who did not perform well in Form Three and Form Five.

'I was always pained by the high number of students who were fighting for places at SPTECO because they could not be admitted in other institutions due to their results. I wanted to make a change in their lives,' she said.

Taolo started the school from her own purse from which she continues to finance the project.But self-financing is proving to be taxing. The rental is high but the students intake is low because of the space constraints.

In adding, Taolo noted that it is hard to do practicals for subjects like General Science, and Agriculture due to space shortage.

The enterprising lady revealed that she arrived at the copper mining town of Selebi-Phikwe in 1975 from Maun, where she was born. Taolo is a widow and has been blessed with six children, one girl and five boys. An ardent Seventh Day Adventist Church (SDA) church member, Taolo says she likes reading many books and gardening during her spare time. 'You can even tell from all the trees and flowers in my yard. I love gardening a lot,' she says with a smile before waving goodbye.