Alert Ministry of Education to Kids not in School- Maqelepo

Communities should report to the Ministry of Education and Training children of school going age who are not doing so either because of their parents' irresponsibility or their families financial problems.

Assistant Minister of Education, Mrs. Malijane Maqelepo made the appeal to the community of Ha Thamae, a suburb of the capital, Maseru, on May 14, during the official opening of additional classrooms, built with government assistance, at the Thamae LEC Primary School. 

Government will not stand by and let irresponsible parents not send children to school while it is at the same time doing all in its power to make education accessible possible to Basotho children. Since the year 2000,  when the Free Primary Education programme was introduced in the country, Government has built more than 600 classrooms for the different church schools and more than 150 new schools throughout the
country.

What Government has done for the Thamae LEC Primary School is an example of what it is trying to achieve with free primary education. The increased number of children at the school and other schools after the introduction of the FEP programme, is a clear indication that some parents are unable to meet their children's' educational requirements, Mrs. Maqelepo said.

Eight new classrooms, a kitchen and toilets were handed over to the school, established in 1990 with 35 students and one teacher. The school now serves more than 1 300 students with 21 teachers in 16
classrooms.

19 May 2004