Africa-Press – Botswana. Mindset change calls for all to strive for good work ethic and improved productivity in service delivery.
Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development, Ms Nnaniki Makwinja said this when officiating at the first ever North West staff excellence awards organised by the Department of Education.
Ms Makwinja commended the regional education office for initiating interventions aimed at improving academic results, notwithstanding numerous challenges including, bad terrains, staff welfare and poor working conditions.
She commended teachers and support staff through the leadership of the regional director for their determination to beat the odds.
“I am impressed that the region introspected and embraced new ways of doing things, because as leadership and teachers, [you] have profound responsibility to prepare learners for the future,” Ms Makwinja said.
According to Ms Makwinja, Botswana is percieved to have a poor work ethic despite the country having highly skilled individuals working in various offices.
She added that there was need for people to empower themselves as well as changing mindset.
Ms Makwinja said the North West region was in the right direction as all its 75 primary schools had in place remedial action to improve learners’ performance.
She regretted that the ministry was failing the region, giving an example of dilapidated hostels at Maun Senior Secondary School, which she had visited earlier.
Ms Makwinja implored school heads to prioritise safety of teachers and learners for optimal performance.
She said that efforts were underway to decentralise services, which would help regions to realise their potential.
North West regional education director, Ms Veronica Mochotlhi said they were determined to turn around the region’s poor academic performance.
That could only happen if they paid attention to the needs of staff, which they did, hence promising results. She said:
“Today we are here celebrating excellence. We believe that if the human resource is happy things can change for the better despite the challenges. And we created a positive attitude among our staff, which brought results,” she said
Among the achievements they made as a result, is Maitlamo Junior Secondary School’s making the 50 per cent target, which was a regional first; 47 out of 75 primary schools had improved their Primary School Leaving Examination (PLSE) results, eight junior schools also did the same, while the two senior secondary schools of Maun and Shakawe were no longer bottom performers, she said.
Ms Mochotlhi said the achievements were made possible by dedicated stakeholders some of whom supported schools with equipment.
The revival of the remedial action in all primary schools in the district, also helped, she said.
Maun East area MP, Mr Goretetse Kekgonegile said they were equally concerned about poor performance of schools but appreciated that within two years, the district was having excellence awards.
Mr Kekgonegile said the education office had proved that they had they understood their responsibility to build future leaders.
He encouraged the ministry to consider Public Private Partnership (PPP) for further and lasting improvement of academic results.
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