BDF Officer Cadets class 44 donate to Matopi Primary
Botswana Defence Force Officer Cadets, class 44 of 2023 travelled 72 KM on gravel road to shower Matopi Primary School with gifts, last week Thursday.
The school with 104 students is in a small village called Matopi, which is home to at least 2000 inhabitants.
The donated items worth over P45 000 are two printers, eight ink cartridges, 48 revision books, 15 boxes of plain paper, two printer tables, two extension cables and adapters.
When handing over the gifts, Chief Instructor, Military College, Colonel Tshupe Molome said the gesture is inline with the Vision 2036 pillar of a compassionate and caring nation.
He added that they wanted to play a pivotal role in the education sector in a school near their training center.
“Following a brief research, we noticed the school was in a dire need of photocopying equipment. Matopi is far from others school to ask services from. As we understand the importance of education, we extended a helping hand,” Molome said.
He added that the monies that bought the donated items was forked out by Cadets Class 44 of 2023 from their own pockets as a way of giving back to the community.
“I wish to see this school developing and doing well in examinations,” Molome said, further encouraging parents to work hand in hand with teachers to help in molding students.
A delighted Matopi School Head Mangala Tiroyame appreciated the kind gesture extended by the soldiers to their school.
She said despite being a small school, they lack a lot of things.
“With these items, we assure you that our students’ results are going to improve. We have shortage of classrooms, currently our pre scholars are using Village Development Committee (VDC0 houses as their classrooms and some teachers do not have accommodation in school and are renting in the village,” she said.
Matopi Primary School’s 2022 standard seven pass rate was 72.7 percent.
