Africa-Press – Botswana. The Deputy School Head of Maun Senior Secondary School, Mr Kehilwe Oageng, has decried inadequate budget for its tourism and hospitality wing which is said to be producing positive results.
The school has been identified as a centre of excellence for tourism and hospitality, a strategy to offer early career specific education.
Apprising the Deputy Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Child Welfare and Basic Education, Prof. Agreement Jotia, recently about the newly introduced subject, Mr Oageng said the subject was demanding as the syllabus was packed and the little budget they had limited them to conduct excursions in an effort to give learners exposure.
The school is a church facility and funding was said to be a serious challenge as Mr Oageng revealed that the subvention from the government was not adequate to operate the school and requested an increase in the school’s budget to cater for the subject.
He highlighted that maintenance was also a challenge due to financial constraints.
Currently, he said, the tourism and hospitality facility had an enrolment of 120 learners and staffing capacity of six teachers citing that they needed P50 000 for a session.
Mr Oageng stated that the wing was doing exceptionally well as it produced 90 per cent pass rate this term. He disclosed that learners were enjoying the subject which was more practical than theory.
Mr Oageng called for capacitation of teachers saying when they invite experts, they wanted to be sponsored. Despite the challenges, he acknowledged stakeholder involvement citing that they worked closely with tourism companies, such as African Bush Camp which operates camps in the Okavango Delta saying it empowers learners to get exposure in the wilderness.
Other organisations that worked in collaboration with the school, include Botho University, Women in Tourism Botswana and Botswana Chefs Association.
Prof. Jotia appreciated the challenges and gave credit to teachers for educating learners with the little resources they had.
He informed school management that efforts were ongoing to engage with Botswana Examination Council to address the issue of payment of teachers.
In terms of schools’ performance in the North West and Okavango regions, he said there was a serious problem that needed to be addressed, saying it was disturbing to learn that pupils excel at primary but fail at junior and secondary schools.
“I have been informed that pupils at Gunutsoga Primary School scored 73 per cent overall pass rate and when they reached Ngambao Junior School, their performance dropped to ten percent.
“This is disturbing and we need to come back to the region and get to the bottom of the problem,” he said.
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