Former President, Festus Mogae, has applauded parents of students schooling at Phakalane Primary School for making it their joint business with government to educate their children.

Mogae was speaking at a prize-giving ceremony held at the school yesterday. He said parents of children studying at English medium schools are different in pledging a role to take a part in the education of their children as compared to those of children at most public schools.

"You recognize that educating a child is a joint role between the parent and government and should not be left to the government only," he said.

He said it is not surprising that some schools do not perform as well as they should partly because parents are not helpful.

"In those schools there are Parents and Teachers Associations (PTA) but parents in those committees are left alone to work with the teachers, which should not be the case because the other parents whose children are in that school should be cooperative," he said adding that "children are important to parents and that is why they should do anything in their power to educate them well."

The former president commended teachers for doing their job in making the primary school one of the best in the country. The primary school has 961 students.