GABORONE, — Botswana Minister of Education Jacob Nkate will travel to Malaysia this week to investigate suicide among Botswana students.
Four students have also died this year due to car accidents. Two fell from the balconies of their apartments after drinking alcohol. This has created an atmosphere of panic among Botswanans in Malaysia and here at home.
The students interviewed in the local media have cited the environment as being hostile hence they resorted to alcohol abuse, ending up in fatal accidents.
Speaking at a media briefing last Thursday, Nkate said the ministry is concerned about the number of deaths occurring in Malaysia. The minister said that a delegation, including counsellors, was dispatched to Malaysia last week to try and talk to the students.
"We will also move the education attache from Beijing in China to Malaysia to be near the students," he said.
The Education Minister said Malaysia is a liberal country where anyone is free to do anything that their heart desires as long as they are on the right side of the law. He said it is the first-year students who are most vulnerable to accidents because they are challenged by being thrust into a very big city in a very different culture.
"Being taken from a rural area like Tsau to a big city like that can shock a rural boy," he said. There are currently 850 students in Limkokwing University in Malaysia doing courses in design, communication and IT.