OUT OF CONTROL

Poor academic performance at Seepapitso Senior Secondary School in Kanye has been attributed to lack of parental involvement, a Kanye Council stakeholder meeting heard last week.

The school is historically one of the region's underperforming institutions. The meeting aimed to address the challenges the school faces, explore ways to overcome them, and ultimately support the school in achieving better results.

Part of the revelations made were that students often use drugs such as Marijuana, mixing it in dough to make scones which they then sell within school premises. They are said to also brew concoctions made of their faeces mixed with marijuana and other acidic substances to make strong drugs that often lead users to mental hospital in an instant. The unfortunate thing, the meeting heard, is that in most cases, students involved in this are often defended by their parents when action has to be taken.

The indiscipline which was said to largely emanate from home is said to cause students to threaten teachers in school as they generally do not have respect for elders. It was also revealed that the school experienced female student dropouts due to pregnancy and mostly the young girls are impregnated by adults. The teachers also lamented that these young girls find it easy to disrespect them as already, they have been found to date men who are either the age mates of the teachers or even older than the them.

One of the Seepapitso staff who attended the meeting, Kabelo Ntsimanyana, lamented the serious issue of marijuana use in the school, noting that some students even abuse their parents at home. He mentioned that these cases are typically not reported to the police to protect the students, but rather to the ward headman of arbitration, Kgosi Sebati Dikgageng. He noted that worn-out shoes are often thrown up to hang on power lines as a sign that drugs are sold in the marked area.

Southern District Education Director, Acro Maseko expressed hope that the school will start achieving good marks now that it is under new staff. He mentioned receiving positive feedback about the new leadership, stating: "I have heard that students are being moulded in terms of good discipline." He also cited the positive results achieved at Lobatse Senior Secondary School after changing the old staff there as an example.

When addressing the gathered stakeholders from different schools and departments, Sandy Mphuting, the new School Head of Seepapitso School, announced that the school was now adequately staffed, unlike was the case before. He emphasised his commitment to improving the school and highlighted his reputation for achieving good educational results. However, he lamented the lack of accommodation for teachers.

He also mentioned that there are 23 Form Four classes with 655 students and 25 Form Five classes with 688 students. Seepapitso Secondary School has been performing below 20 percent in the Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) examinations from 2019. In 2019 the school attained 17.5 percent pass, in 2020 it was 19.97 percent, in 2021 it was 13.3 percent, in 2022 it was 17.9 percent and in 2023 the performance was 17.20 percent.

"We monitor and supervise lessons, and the school has five Heads of Departments (HODs) who ensure that teachers arrive on time," Mphuting said.

He revealed that they have a parenting initiative to create a bond between teachers and students, where teachers adopt particular students, regularly checking their schoolwork and monitoring their progress. He added that the school has an excellent badge system, rewarding both students and teachers who perform well. Other stakeholders and village leaders made several suggestions, including holding parents' meetings (Pitso) to involve them more in students' educational progress and hosting career fairs.

Kanye Senior Chief representative, Kennedy Mookodi placed some responsibility for poor school results on parents, adding that some parents often attack teachers instead of addressing their children's behaviour.

"This habit of drug use starts at junior schools, and when these students go to Seepapitso Senior, it gets worse. Some men even sleep with young boys and promise them hefty amounts of cash. In Kanye, we have many drinking spots, which I suggest should be reduced," Kgosi Mookodi said, adding: "We do not want teachers who are only focussed on rushing to the ATM for money, we want those who actively contribute to improving school results," he stated.

Speaking at the Council stakeholder meeting, Station Commander for Sejelo Police, Superintendent Mogomotsi Matlapeng emphasised that parents should be more involved in their children's education to achieve better results, especially since the school is named after a well-respected village leader.

He stressed that neglecting this responsibility would tarnish the leader's name. He added that through their crime prevention initiatives, the police regularly visit schools to sensitise students about crime. He expressed concern that students are engaging in sexual activities at a younger age and questioned their behaviour, noting that the young people disregard guidance from elders.

"Allowing and normalising drugs always leads to poor educational outcomes. I previously considered bringing detection dogs to the school to alleviate the situation but feared that parents would complain about not being involved in the decision," he said.

Kanye Council Chairman Mpho Dikole advised Matlapeng to proceed with the idea of using detection dogs, acknowledging that the situation is out of control.