‘Mantoetse Maama
MASERU — For students at Cenez High School in Naleli, education is not just about books and books alone.
The school recently introduced an “education with production” business course to about 40 students.
Under the course students are expected to engage in income-generating projects to learn how to run successful businesses.
The project is under the Prime Minister’s Office’s Poverty Reduction Project and is also sponsored by FNB and the Lesotho Times.
Cenez High School principal, Thabo Moiloa, told the Sunday Express on Friday that students had fallen in love with the course.
The students have been taught how to produce a hand and body lotion cream which has been selling like hot cakes on the market.
The lotion is called Prickly Pear.
They have also been taught how to produce jam and fruit juice and have been selling the products on the market.
The students pocket 50 percent of whatever sales they make.
“We wanted them to use locally available resources to produce their products,” Moiloa said.
“Students have produced Prickly Pear hand and body lotion and they are selling it.
“They get 50 percent of the profit on their sales of each product.”
Moiloa said the purpose of the project is to empower students with business skills and inculcate a culture of saving in them from a tender age.
He said the students had since opened savings accounts with a local bank.
One of the students, Nkalimeng Phate, said the project was very important to them as they are planning to help their parents raise money for their school fees.
“The project is very good because it gives us skills on how to operate our own business,” Phate said.
She said she had so far generated over M400 from her commission.
Another student, Thabo Lepasa, said the project was keeping them busy during this school holiday.
“When I wake up in the morning I am already thinking of the business and the strategies that I have to use in order to attract customers,” Lepasa said.