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For the small community of Moralane village in the outskirts of Shoshong in the Central District, it was a match made in heaven when Vice Chancellor, Professor David Norris, announced that the University of Botswana was adopting Moralane Primary School through the Adopt a School Programme.

A pleasant surprise and the residents could not hide their excitement when Professor Norris declared in the presence of Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development, Mr Aubrey Lesaso, that the adoption would go a long way in helping the community to improve the quality of education for their over 400 pupils studying at Moralane Primary School.

The University of Botswana together with Shiv Parivar, a community service group from Botswana Hindu Society, were in Moralane on July 11, 2022 for a community engagement initiative during which 140 less privileged students and the elderly underwent eye screening and receiving or recommended for free sepectacles. The University also conducted sports development and life skills clinics for Moralane Primary School pupils.

The Vice Chancellor explained that the event marked the beginning of a fruitful relationship between the University of Botswana and Moralane Primary School. To that end, the University of Botswana would undertake research and work jointly with the school management to see how best they can be assisted to produce good results. Professor Norris said after training the required human resource capital for the country, the time was nigh for the University of Botswana to embark on aggressive research to provide solutions to problems bedeviling communities such as Moralane.

He also commended Shiv Parivar for partnering with the University of Botswana to donate some items to the school and community. The University of Botswana donated school bags, whiteboard markers and some food hampers while Shiv Parivar donated wall clocks, face masks, pencils and provided lunch to 250 Moralane residents.

In his remarks, Assistant Minister Lesaso thanked the University of Botswana and Shiv Parivar for the initiative of helping Moralane Primary School and the community given that the village was less developed and classified as remote.

Mr Lesaso further commended Professor Norris for visionary leadership in that the initiative the University of Botswana undertook to Moralane was in line with the Vision 2036 pillar of a compassionate and caring nation. He observed that improving the quality of education at Moralane Primary School would help break the circle of poverty and ignorance in the community.

Mr Lesaso appealed to the University of Botswana to undertake a traceability study that would determine their level of success of Moralane Primary School students after completing their studies. He said Moralane Primary School produced intelligent students but there was nothing in place to trace them after completing their studies.

Moralane Primary School headteacher, Ms Obongwefela Gaseitsiwe expressed the same sentiments with the assistant minister but lamented the challenge of school dropouts due to various reasons. Ms Goitsemodimo appealed to Moralane community to join hands with the University of Botswana and Moralane Primary School staff to improve the standard of education for their children.