Mosele hips in with student empowerment scheme

| Monday October 25, 2010 00:00

The founder of Mosele Legal Services, Base Sebonego, says through the scheme, the country's pioneer legal service provider aims to help promote ownership and understanding of sponsorship contracts entered into by thousands of students and government, among others. 

Mosele today boasts a strong 20,000 subscribers countrywide, but Sebonego says the new scheme is also a demonstration of how much they care in helping to build a credible education system through the provision of a conflict resolution mechanism that has the potential of leaving a long lasting impression on the perception of Botswana's budding tertiary institutions.

Mosele Legal services' latest scheme, the Student Membership Scheme, also comes at a time when government is struggling to trace billions of Pula lost in college sponsorships while the beneficiaries also seem ignorant of the legal implications of the contracts they signed for their education.

However, sanity may prevail among the beneficiaries if the new scheme proves to be a hit among thousands of college students who sign on the dotted line every year for tertiary education. Sebonego says the new scheme is also aimed at promoting quality education, service and achievement of the vision 2016 pillar of 'an educated and informed nation'. 

Sebonego says through the scheme, students now have an option of access to legal advice to resolve unpleasant academic climate at their colleges without any fear of victimization, while reducing cases of vandalism, mitigation and strikes that usually occur as a result of misunderstandings between the students and the administration.

The new scheme by Mosele also aims to mediate between students and lecturers and administration on sensitive issues involving the future of a student. According to Sebonego, the aim is to create a win-win situation for the student, the college and government.

The new college scheme comes for only P25 per month. The scheme also treats education as a right and not privilege. It aims to argue cases where a deserving individual or group of students are unjustly denied this right through unfair dismissals and anyhow. Sebonego says the motivation for this scheme is the realisation that modern college students face complex challenges on campus that can threaten their academic future.

With more tertiary institutions emerging to cater for the educational needs of the country cases of students dismissed from college for taking part in demonstrations for better services are also becoming more and more common in Botswana today, something Sebonego says can be nipped in the bud as Botswana habours to become the education hub of southern Africa.

He says the new Student Membership scheme also recognises that new colleges in Botswana are awash with Student Representative Councils (SRCs) that are still wet behind the ears and naturally grow cold feet in advocating for the rights of students.

There are cases whereby an aggrieved student for example is unhappy with the marks one has got. 

'How do you achieve that without the chances of spoiling your case due to boiling emotions and lack of negotiation skills?

This is where our lawyers come into play, to help in the resolution of the situation in dignified style, without hurting the integrity of any of the parties,' Sebonego says, adding that ultimately the scheme is about promoting and building a healthy working relationship and respect between the college administration and the students. (Sila Press)