Thupa gae bolae, e bolaya peba

After thrashing an offending child, a Motswana elder would soothe the weeper with these words: “ Thupa gae bolae, e bolaya peba (a little spanking can kill only a rat.”At the kgotla a recalcitrant young man is made to bend over and lashed on bare buttocks.

The elders would then say “Ya mosimane ke e nkgwe (a boy deserves a canning”.

They did not discriminate who should get larruping or not.

Editor's Comment
A promising step for public schools, but...

For too long, the state of many public schools has been a source of shame. We have all seen the pictures and heard the stories of broken windows, unreliable water and electricity, topped by classrooms that are not fit for proper learning. The establishment of the Education Infrastructure and Management Company Ltd (EIMC) signals that authorities are finally ready to take this problem seriously. We must commend the government for this initiative....

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