At 21, Marang Lemeni is already challenging one of Botswana’s most stubborn ideas: that a bad exam result means a bad future. Her youth movement, Teens On Track, is betting on second chances and refusing to leave young people behind.
GOSEGO MOTSUMI
What if failing an exam wasn’t the end of the story but the plot twist?
That question sits at the heart of Teens On Track, a youth movement founded by Marang Lemeni when she was just 19 and a first-year student at the University of Botswana. After watching friends remain at home following disappointing Form 3 and Form 5 results, Lemeni saw something beyond the grades: unrealised potential.
“I wanted to create something that could remind young people that one examination result does not have to determine the rest of their lives,” she told Time Out.
Now 21, the law student is turning that belief into action, offering free tuition to teenagers who need another academic shot, while opening a different door for those whose talents don’t necessarily fit inside an examination paper.
NO DEGREE? NO PROBLEM
Teens On Track doesn’t stop at textbooks. The movement offers free practical training in skills including nails, wig installation and lashes because sometimes the quickest route forward isn’t another classroom.
Its reach stretches from Gaborone to Francistown and Maun, with young people from schools and villages including Marobela and Sekakangwe benefiting from its programmes.
The philosophy is simple: potential doesn’t always arrive with straight As.
THE MOVEMENT, NOT THE MACHINE
Lemeni has largely financed the initiative herself, supported by volunteers, tutors and collaborators. Teens On Track operates as a youth movement working with organisations and individuals where possible.
Its magazines tackle the questions that arrive after the report card: Should I rewrite? What happens next? What can I study? Can I start a business? Where do I find my purpose?
She said: “We do not lack potential; sometimes we simply lack guidance, exposure and opportunities.”
And perhaps that is the real lesson. In a culture obsessed with results, Lemeni is making a case for something harder to measure: what happens after them.