Sojwe parents dissatisfied with JSS

BAME PIET
Staff Writer | Monday August 27, 2012 00:00

 

A drive around the village reveals nothing much other than disorderly goats, masunyana trees and a few deserted stores. Landmark buildings are the police station, Molepolole Co-op and Ko Dishopong. Of course, there is the councillor's yard where alcoholic beverages are on sale, allowing one to pass some time there. 

Another landmark structure is the Matsheng Junior Secondary School that lies on the western side of the village.There, a mixture of Remote Area Dwellers (RADs) from Dutlwe, Diphuduhudu, Ngware, Leologane, Kokonye, Lephepe, Otse, Sojwe, Hatsalatladi and students from some settlements in the Kgatleng District stay in hostels. Their total number cannot be confirmed immediately. At the entrance of the school is a board written, 'We are the School of Excellent Performance,' and are words that some villagers in Lephepe and Sojwe dismiss with contempt. The murder incident involving two male students from Ngware is still fresh in their minds and they wonder what the future holds for their community.

'There is nothing excellent about that school. What they have written on that board is a total contradiction of what happens inside. The school has become a nightmare for us and our children,' said a parent in her mid-30s who says her daughter lost a front tooth to a bully in the school. She speaks of another incident that occurred after the students had just completed their evening studies and one of the boys suddenly switched off the lights, an act that resulted in a stampede.

According to the parent, who preferred not to be named or photographed, the school's hostels are nothing but an inhabitable pigsty that causes illness among the students. She says the hostels are not safe because there are no windows, no doors and they have no ablution facilities.'They use stinking pit-latrines to bathe, which pose a serious health risk to these children. Even the kitchen is a disaster - it is hard to believe that it is actually used to prepare food for human consumption,' she says. She also points out that students constantly complain that there is no food in the school and some return to their settlements to stay with their parents.

Golesedi Moatlhaping is another unhappy mother whose child is in Form Two. She says she hasn't received her child's progress report since last year adding that when she enquires about it, she isn't given any answers. Adding to the list of parent's concerns is that theft is rife at the school. Moatlhaping says she was forced to remove her child from the hostels back home in Lephepe from where she commutes every day.'There is a lot of theft taking place at the hostels and it is committed by both the students, and some villagers. There were instances where some elderly men attacked female students in the hostels and some of those attacks resulted in pregnancies,' she said.

Councillor Mary Kabukabu is also worried by the student's behaviour which has deteriorated. The most troublesome students, according to the councillor, are the older students who originate from villages like Ngware, Leologane and others.'They are a problem. We have tried to investigate the root cause of their behaviour and our findings revealed that it is the environment they grew up in. The way the children are raised has a bearing on their behaviour,' she states.

She admits that the hostels are in a bad condition and that there being no fence or windows is because some of students vandalise the property. She reveals that an artisan was recently engaged to maintain the fence but the students destroyed it again. Kabukabu adds that the students stole a goat in the village and ate it at a braai they organised in the school. They were eventually caught and punished.Kabukabu says that there is indeed the problem of RADs students leaving school for various reasons, but the village authorities often make follow ups and return them to the classroom.'We have advised school authorities to advise their parents about the importance of education,' she says.

On Friday morning the MP for Kweneng East, Moeng Pheto, addressed a Kgotla meeting in Sojwe where the issue of unruly students was discussed, says the councillor. Superintendent Jubert Kome confirmed that his office has received cases of bad behaviour involving students, but the school authorities made requests to handle some of the cases administratively.'I am not aware that there is such serious commission of crimes in the school that it would require the immediate attention of the police. As we speak we have no new cases involving the students.The only time we had a serious case was last year when one student murdered another,' he said. The school head could not be reached as he was said to be away when The Monitor visited the school.