Diamond Mining company donates P286, 870.00 equipment to Rakops Primary
Debswana, through the Project Management Office (PMO), and their stakeholders have contributed equipment worth P286, 870.00 to Rakops Primary School.
The donation, which is part of the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The PMO employees had to dig into their own pockets in response to a Save Our Soul (SOS) cry from the School Head, Christopher Mudala.
The 30-stream school with 855 students is struggling with lack of equipment, shortage of classrooms, furniture and many other things necessary for a conducive teaching environment.
“When I arrived in this school, the first thing I noticed was the damaged school fence. The school resembled an animal farm,” said Mudala.
According to the school head, it was not uncommon to meet villagers within the school premises looking for their livestock.
Currently on a double shift, the 39-year old school caters for students from some of the remotest areas in Boteti such as Xumu and Xere.
“These shortages are a big challenge because they negatively affect learning and teaching. Students who knock-off at 12 have no afternoon study supervised by the teaching staff,” said the School Head.
He said while he does not to make it an excuse the results are also telling.
“It used to be a good school, but the results have dropped drastically,” he said.
Officially handing over the donation ,Senior PMO Manager Abel Jhamba said as employees they’re aware and conscious that they’ve communities surrounding them.
“We’ve 20 villages from Khwee to Malatswai which we have assisted through employees volunteerism before,” he said.
Jhamba said the donation to Rakops Primary is in line with one of the Vision 2036 pillars, and in line with Debswana’s ‘Show you care” value.
“We should show that we do care for ourselves and the communities surrounding us by assisting these future leaders of tomorrow,” Jhamba said.
Debswana contributed P67, 600, TKM P20,000, First Edition P87,890 and Etuba Engineering P5,000.
Meanwhile Tlou Drilling donated tables worth P20,000, Dream Choice, Design and Technology benches worth P50,986, while One Track donated chairs worth P35,394.
In total 300 tables, 500 chairs, five work benches and stools were donated on the day.
In her remarks, Boteti Chief Education Officer, Oratile Thonkga challenged the school management and students to ensure that the donated furniture is well taken care of. She said one of their biggest challenges in the school is vandalism.
“Hostels and classrooms are vandalised, and that is why today we’ve so much lack. These tables and chairs should be used by other generations to come,” she said.
Thonkga advised the school leadership to have strategies in place to help them care for the furniture.
