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Dr Sylvia Utete-Masango

Richard Muponde, Plumtree Correspondent
GOVERNMENT has started building a state-of-the-art secondary school in Mphoengs as it moves to increase access to quality education in Mangwe District.

The project, which began on Friday, would bring relief to pupils who were travelling between 15 to 50 kilometres to Patshe and Manenji secondary schools.

Children in Mokgambo village were dropping out of school enmasse at Grade 7 level and seeking menial jobs in farms in neighbouring Botswana while some girls opted for early marriage due to lack of a secondary schools in the area, villagers said.

The school is being built through a loan sourced from OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID).

Addressing villagers and some dignitaries at the ground-breaking ceremony of Mokgambo Secondary School in Mpoengs on Friday, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Dr Sylvia Utete-Masango said Government was taking steps to provide quality education through construction of supportive infrastructure that spoke to the new curriculum nationwide.

“This is one of the 17 schools, which we have chosen for a state-of-the-art secondary school infrastructure through this loan facility. Today we are marking the beginning of a major milestone at Mokgambo School in this province as part of our ministry’s quick wins. School infrastructure is a key base for effective teaching and learning in schools,” said Dr Utete-Masango.

She said for a school to be considered functional it must have an administration block, classroom blocks, standard teachers’ houses, science laboratory, reading room, ablution blocks and safe reliable water supply.

‘’This is the model of this school. We are going to see that all this infrastructure is put here. Our target is that by April this school should be about 75 percent complete in terms of infrastructure and electricity connected. This is part of our 100-day plan to make sure that this project is completed.

“As I speak the District Development Fund (DDF) is here drilling the borehole for this school,” said Dr Utete-Masango. She appealed to the community to donate more land for the development of the school so that they put infrastructure for agriculture.

“I am happy to hear that this land used to be people’s fields who donated it for the building of the school. I was also made aware that the structure, which is being built here was an initiative of the villagers. We appeal to you to donate more land as we expect an expansion to infrastructure for projects such as poultry and fishery and any other infrastructure that support the schools to be self-sustaining,” she said.

Mangwe legislator, Cde Obedingwa Mguni urged the community to work together with Government for development instead of looking to Botswana for a better life.

@richardmuponde