20/04/2023
"There is a very open secret in Botswana; that the government offers virtually every citizen who finishes secondary school with at least 36 points an offer of around half-a-million P**a of tertiary school sponsorship as their starter-pack in life. Obvious as it is, the majority take it for granted and never get to utilise this offer because it is like a race run by 40,000 candidates each year.
Some kids - especially those from the better-off families - will know they want to become lawyers, actuarial scientists, doctors etc and actively work towards that, but the vast majority will just think "... It is just school, we all attend it". Others among them - even on the final day of the exam, after toiling for 12 years - their main objective of that day will be "Today I am going to cut my uniform and show up at the school hall in it and show the teachers they have no power to send me back home; then I am also going to leave the exam room early so that all other candidates will see me as I walk out majestically". Indeed it then all becomes a game to those who regard it as such, and life progresses by giving each person the gift they wanted and its trade-off: those who want a day's popularity in exchange for failing academically get it; those who also trade-off the chance to enjoy endless Tik-tok and Facebook videos in exchange for studying towards a particular life goal also get the chance to get it. It is an endless mill in life.
Even 50 years from now a similar way of turning out will still exist for the youth of that time. Even this year's cohort of Form 5 students will be befallen by the same fate. No matter how loudly we can preach, we will only be heard by part of the audience while the rest feel they are too cool to listen or have hobbies that are too special to be tampered with.
Many people inadvertently opt out of the half-a-million P**a tertiary sponsorship offered by the Botswana government because in their Form 5 year they had hobbies or interests they couldn't afford to minimise taking part in just for that year".
(A lament by Mr Montwedi Muzila - Coordinator. Star Academy).