Maseru, Jan. 14 — With schools officially opening today (Wednesday) for 2026 academic year, ‘Mabathoana High School is no exception though it has no Grade 8s students as it is preparing for the transition to an independent school called ‘Mabathoana Academy in 2029.
As part of efforts to transit, ‘Mabathoana High School has resolved not to have intake for Grade 8 students, making 2025 Grade 8s last cohort.
The transition from being a public school registered under the auspices of Section 12(a) of Education Act No.3 of 2010 to an independent school reclassified under the auspices of Section 12(b) of the same Act. The initiative is embarked upon Section 14 of the same Act.
Speaking in an interview, Catholic Schools Proprietor Reverend Father Bereng Mosuoe confirmed this saying since take-off into ‘Mabathoana Academy will be in 2029, these remaining years will allow students to complete Grades so that when time comes, they have new students altogether.
Commenting on placement of teachers, Rev. Fr. Mosuoe said they are already placing teachers to some of the schools under the Catholic church saying by the end of 2028 all teachers will have been placed as there is already shortage of teachers in some schools.
He highlighted that the church would take full responsibility including recruitment and payment of new teachers for the academy.
On the other hand, this transition is attributed to the church wanting to have full control of their schools due to the poor current education system in Lesotho as the standard of Lesotho’s education has drastically declined.
For now, the Catholic Church is piloting Mabathoana High School.
Meanwhile, in 1965 the Catholic Church through the Archbishop of Maseru, Emmanuel ‘Mabathoana and the Educational Catholic secretary, Fr. Garreau OMI saw a need to open a secondary school in the capital city, Maseru. They started negotiations with the Sisters of the Holy Names whose mission is education in the faith and liberating actions with special concern for the poor and disadvantaged. At the time there was only one high school and the other schools in town were teachers’ training colleges.
The Catholic Educational Secretariat requested the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary to provide the principal for the new school. The sister’s leader appointed Sister Laurent Marie for that position. The school opened on April 01,1965 with three Form A classes. They used the Catholic Community Centre temporarily for the classrooms. In the meantime, construction for four classrooms started at the site near St. Bernadette Primary School. The students had to clear their desks in the afternoon and put all the teaching materials which were used in the classes in the kitchenette, because the rooms were also used for night school. The school engaged four teachers to work with Sister Laurent Marie, they were Mrs. Lebona, Mr. Tlali, Mr. J. Mothale and Mr. Machape.
The new building was completed and blessed on February 28,1966 by Archbishop ‘Mabathoana. The enrollment increased to 126 students, and seven new teachers joined the staff. Two wings were added to the new building. One was a laboratory while the other was classrooms. The following year the enrollment was 197 students. The school conducted their first Junior Certificate examinations where 24 of the original 80 students sat for their examinations. The school obtained 75 percent pass in this first examination.
After four years of dedication and building classrooms and laboratories as well as staff houses, Sister Anardene Bean arrived and became principal for one year. Sister Laurent Marie took the leadership of the school for four more years then she was replaced by Sister Bean.
Sister Laurent became the librarian and the bursar of the school until she retired and left for her home country, Canada in 1985. She left after celebrating 20 years of the foundation of ‘Mabathoana high School. She had seen it grow from 80 students to 547 students in 1985.
In 1977 the Sisters appointed Sister Mary Ellen Mckillop to be the principal. She left after two years to go back to Washington, her home province. Sister Yvonne Maes was appointed to be principal in 1979 until 1987. Sister Filipina Tebalo was appointed principal in 1988, and her tenure was ended by her untimely death in 1998. Sr. Bathilda Heqoa was appointed principal, and she was in this position for three years then she went to further her studies abroad in 2001. Sister Margarita Lephoto was appointed in 2001, and she was principal for one year. In 2002 to 2006, Sister Alixius Maria Mohanoe was appointed to serve as principal.
In 2007 to 2010 Sister Lephoto was again appointed principal of the school until she retired in December 2010. The leadership team of the sisters appointed Sr. Heqoa to be principal in 2011, but she was called to be part of the Congregational Leadership Team after being in that office for three months. Then the provincial leadership team requested Mrs. ‘Mankali Moejane to take that role. She was in that office from 2011 to 2017. In 2018 the Holy Names leadership asked Sr. Heqoa to be the principal again and she has been in that office up to the present.
The school has gradually grown from 80 students to over 1000 thousand students at present. Over these years a couple of buildings have been erected to respond to the needs. The teaching and non-teaching staff has grown from four to over fifty people in total. There have been high achievements in terms of academic performance and sports.
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