Ninety years ago the then Bakgatla regent Kgosi Isang Pilane lead a successful project of building the first school in the district Bakgatla National School whose building currently houses the Phuthadikobo Museum in Mochudi.
The tribe now plans to celebrate the existence of this treasured building and the achievements of Kgosi Isang who led the morafe after the death of Kgosi Lenchwe I in the early 1920s.He ruled during trying times when Western civilisation was literally taking over.
Missionaries and their mission schools drew mixed reactions from various Batswana tribes and their leaders. While some acknowledged their positive impact some suspicious traditionalists viewed them as a way white supremacist eroded African traditions.However, some, like Kgosi Isang, seemed to acknowledge that while they served a good purposed and a step into modern education, the mission schools taught only the basics, hence the idea of a 'proper school'. This building of historical significance was only converted into a museum in 1975 after a district council resolution.Bakgatla National School was built between 1921 and 1923 under the leadership of Kgosi Isang and the Mafiri and Machechele mephato.
