Matsha students unhappy with counselling boot camp
Government through the Ministry of Education and Skills Development has enrolled Matsha Students who were involved in a car accident last year into a Boot Camp for six months at Molepolole College of Education (MCE).
The students however are not happy with the arrangement to be away from their families for six month to undergo counselling and receiving vocation training.
They believe the counselling process is just a waste of time for them as they have already moved on with their lives since the accident that claimed the lives of some of their colleagues. The government is however keeping this as a secret as officials from the ministry headquarters and the college, chased The Midweek Sun team from the college during a visit last week week.
When The Midweek Sun team arrived at MCE students were being registered and Identity Cards were being processed for them. One of the students who spoke to this publication (name withheld as they were barred from interacting with media) stated that they were fetched from different locations on Sunday and transported to MCE.
“Prior to that, letters have been sent to our parents to release us so that we could come to MCE for the next six month. However what is strange is that not much information has been shared with us. All we know is that we will undergo counselling for three month then from there we would undergo training in dressmaking and electrical engineering among other vocational courses”, said the students who explained they had already moved on with their lives and are not interested in counselling anymore.
Some of the students could also be seen with fresh wounds. They however indicated that they receive medical attention. Scores of education ministry from the head office and the Kweneng District office flocked the MCE multi-purpose hall where the students were being registered and were to receive counselling.
Another student revealed that they are surprised at how they should be getting counselling for the three months. “ What is more surprising is that they say we are going to be trained in vocational training but even our Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) results are not yet out. They tell us that we are going to be here for the next six month and would not be allowed to go see our families. This is just too much for us. We do not even know if we will be getting allowance or it will be just the toiletry and food coupons that they are giving us.”
MCE officials declined to comment and referred this publication to the education ministry head office. Education Ministry Public Relations Officer Silas Sehularo said “the Programme which is attended by the Matsha students who were involved in a car accident is not a boot camp as you are alleging. As a matter of fact the programme is called Kweneng District Skills Development Programme (KDSDP).
This intervention is a post crisis initiative by the Minister of Education and Skills Development, Dr. Unity Dow. The intervention or programme focuses mainly on healing, rehabilitation, vocational skills development and character building for 2015 Matsha Senior Secondary School students, who survived the tragic road accident of Friday 13th November 2015. Therefore the motivation for the programme is based on the realisation that there is a real opportunity to make a meaningful impact in the lives of the students through vocal skills development”.
He stated that this is a partnership between the Government of Botswana and De Beers Group of Companies. The goals of the programme Sehularo said are to: facilitate the effectiveness of healing following the disaster and empower the survivors with comprehensive psychosocial and life skills, as well as vocational skills development.
“Healing, rehabilitation, life skills and vocational skills development, and character education in their broad perspective will help the students to develop important qualities such as self-awareness and confidence, self-sustenance, independence, creativity, innovativeness, discipline, accountability, resilience, integrity, honesty, justice, diligence, compassion, respect and courage. This will also act as a bridging programme for the students between Secondary education and tertiary”, Sehularo stated.
The PRO explained that the students are housed under joint care of the Ministry of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Ministry of Education and Skills Development, Ministry of Health, Kweneng District and Kweneng Local Authorities. He stated that considerations for allowances have not been made yet.
“Based on the ordeal that they went through it is befitting that the students are engaged in rehabilitation and counseling while they go through the healing process. Furthermore there is need to equip them with necessary life skills that will keep them busy to help reduce the time that they may spend thinking about their ordeal. The BGCSE results will not in any way affect the programme.”