When tabling the motion, Mmolotsi emphasised the importance of the services provided by private schools, saying they often do much better - in regard to their students' results - than government schools.Mmolotsi argued that education is a human right, not a privilege, and that government is obliged to ensure that its citizens have access to good quality education. He contended that public schools are under duress to provide good quality education - as they are ill equipped, have a dire shortage of textbooks and a prohibitive student-teacher ratio.Conversely, private schools have better qualified teachers and more-rounded curriculum, he argued."Private education can be regarded as complementary and not necessarily competitive to public education, having the same objectives of coverage and better education," Mmolotsi said.
He said many countries such as Ghana, India, Philippines and Vietnam have policies, which attempt to limit the level of tuition fees charged by private schools to ensure that learning within such institutions is affordable to a wider group. To illustrate why he thinks regulation of fees is needed, Mmolotsi quoted fees charged by some local schools, which ranged from P3,000 per term to P18,437 per term for some primary schools. The Francistown MP was also concerned about the disparities in the development fees charged by private schools.In an interview with Mmolotsi outside Parliament, he requested government to develop a mechanism, in consultation with stakeholders for the regulation of fees charged by private educational institutions. Although he agreed that the schools offer quality education, he argued that the fees they charge are very high and government should regulate them. He said most Batswana cannot afford to offer their children quality education, which he said government schools are failing to offer, and that there is too much congestion in government schools.
