The Botswana Primary Schools Sports Association (BOPSSA) spokesperson, Edward Moreti, has announced that 2011 will see no sporting activities being done until the Government has put something in place for the teacher’s overtime allowances.
This development follows a motion that was reached during the BOPSSA Annual General Meeting held in Tutume on 30 November 2010. The AGM was attended by representatives from all the ten regions.
Moreti told Sunday Standard that “with affect from the 1st January 2011 its tools down with sports activities due to overtime negotiations that have been ongoing since last year.”
He said negotiations with the Government are currently being done by the Botswana Teachers Union (BTU).
Moreti said this is a complaint that was raised by the BTU that teachers were not getting anything from the government for working overtime.
“We cannot fight with the Union but have to put up with what they say,” he said. Moreti said if no agreement is reached early there will be no athletics competitions for all the primary schools in the country for this term.
Moreti said the time sporting activities were being done was strenuous on most teachers as they would knock off late, around 7pm.
“If sporting activities are to be done this year, it should be in a well planned manner and at the right time,” said Moreti.
BOPSSA took over the running of primary school sports from the Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) and there had been a lot of improvement in the way sports was being run at primary level.
BOPSSA was formed in 2006 with the core mandate of running sports at primary school level. Moreti said schools’ sports development is very crucial because its products feed national teams and should be taken seriously. Moreti said despite these hiccups, students have been very enthusiastic about the sporting activities.
