PM’s office helps the less privileged

’MATHATO SEBOKA

MASERU – The office of the Prime Minister donated stationery and sanitary towels to over 40 students at the Maseru Day High School on Monday this week. Working with the Youth Apprenticeship Programme (YAP) the donation was presented with an intention of helping the vulnerable and less privileged students in the school.

Maseru Day High School Principal, ‘Mampine Mothae said that they are so happy about the initiative YAP has taken in assisting her students. “We are very pleased that you chose to come to our school, you came at the right time since it is the beginning of the year. In helping these people, you are showing them that they are important because children, who are cared for, have vigilant minds” said Mothae.

Tlalane Ntili, Senior YAP Officer, said they got interested to Maseru Day High School because they were caught by its name and that it is their first time as YAP to host such an event.

“The ‘Day’ was what actually interested us to come to the school so that eventually we can learn the history of how the name came about,” said Ntili. Maseru City Council (MCC), Public, Relation Officer Lintle Mosala, said that as MCC they have donated two trash cans two the school in on order to inspire cleanliness.

“We want to instil cleanliness to the schools so that students can stop littering everywhere. We are on a campaign of keeping the environment clean and there are penalties for littering around,” said Mosala.

Mosala said that they need everybody to ‘police the environment around them’ because a healthy and clean environment is everyone’s responsibility.

Sechaba Mokoqo from YAP indicated that this program is aimed at equipping academically qualified and non-qualified youth with temporary jobs across the country in order to give them work experience.

The programme is a division of the Office of the Prime Minister, which commenced in 2020 with the mission of providing the youth with valuable experience as well as combat poverty.

The programme is widely known by its Sesotho aliases Lihalahala and Lesupa-Tsela.

“From 2023 up to today we have had more than 5 000 youths from higher learning institutions who have been given jobs by YAP. We have three categories in this program, for youth from the universities, youth who only went to high school level and youth who did not go to school at all.

All these youths are given an opportunity to work and beat unemployment,” said Mokoqo.

Mafata Mafata from the Lesotho College of Education said that the students at Maseru Day High School are very lucky to have been given stationery and sanitary towels.

“You are very lucky again because as students you have teachers who always take a very good care of you; school is a home away from home,” said Mafata.

Cabinet in 2023 decided to transfer the YAP, which has been piloted by the Ministry of Finance to the Prime Minister’s office.

In the programme, the youth are placed in different government ministries, private sector organisations and in different community development projects.