16 Nov 2016

In one of the remotest parts of the Okavango region, about 40km north of Seronga, lies Gudigwa, the farthest village by road from the service centre, Shakawe. 

To reach Gudigwa one has to cross by the ferry at Mohembo and drive 140 kilometers on a gravel road. 

This is Mr Tumelo Moloi’s work place where he serves as Gudigwa Primary School head. 

Tati Siding born Mr Moloi’s positive energies and vigour are hard to miss and though his school is not necessarily the best performing by national standards, the school is counted amongst the top five in the Shakawe sub-region. 

Having taken over as the school head in March this year, Mr Moloi says he inherited the school at a time when its PSLE performance over the last three years was declining from 71 per cent in 2013 to 63 per cent in 2014 and 53 per cent in 2015. 

The school is also battling with absenteeism which is common in Basarwa communities where children generally prefer staying home to going to school.

“We had five dropouts in the first term but interestingly some of these students return in the second term when ball sports begin,” says Mr Moloi. 

The challenges they have to battle with include the language used to teach, style of teaching and relevance of the material being taught, he adds.  

“Teaching lower classes in a language that pupils cannot understand well is a challenge in this area where the mother tongue is Sesarwa,” he explains. 

Learner focused teaching methods which are child friendly to create a conducive environment for learning may be a solution, he opines, adding that students should be prepared for life beyond examinations. 

In Gudigwa, he notes there is a general feel among parents that their children’s responsibilities lie with government as they are under the Remote Area Dweller (RADP) program. 

Some of the children travel more than seven kilometers on foot from neighbouring cattle-posts to get to school in animal infested areas. 

“As a result they get to school tired and can hardly stay alert in class which affects their academic performance,” he explains.

To combat some of these challenges and improve the school’s performance, Mr Moloi has a very ambitious plan to involve all the stakeholders needed for the school to at least reach its set target of 85 per cent. 

“This target however worries me because it implies that we will be comfortable with the remaining 15 per cent that might fail,” he adds. 

He says there is need to factor in mentorship and tutoring amongst stakeholders such as the VDC and the general village leadership.

 As a result, the school head has initiated what he calls ‘Circles of Support’ which includes all the stakeholders needed to support students emotionally, psychosocially, mentally and physically. These include, among others; the social and community development officers, the police, dikgosi, teachers, parents, pastors and VDC. 

Through this forum he envisions dealing holistically with issues affecting students such as teenage pregnancy and abuse.

Recently, the school held a Children’s Forum event as part of UNICEF’s 50 Minutes for children initiative where they got to share messages on abuse, bullying and others through drama and discussions.

“Parents were able to hear concerns from their children while also using the forum to engage their children about their roles in their education,” he noted, adding that the activity closed communication gaps between parents and their children.

Another initiative is the School Improvement Plan 2016 which unfortunately is being stifled by the fact that the school has no printer to have it printed and distributed around the school. 

“We have also submitted a proposal to the VDC to partner with DOSET to have the school cater for parents who want to attend evening classes to take advantage of the staff and resources available,” he explains. 

Pastoral visits are also being intensified despite resource constraints such as transport challenges as most of the times he has to rely on the tribal administration vehicle or the local trust’s or his own private vehicle to track down absentees. 

Due to the challenge, teachers and students alike have often missed out on attending workshops within the region.

Looking forward, in terms of this year’s PSLE results, he says 14 students sat for the exams out of which three have visual learning difficulties though they attended mainstream classes. BOPA