23 Jul 2015

Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development, Mr Moiseraele Goya, says the operational capacity of public Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) institutions is 17 228.

Mr Goya said of those TVETs, 8 100 were in technical colleges and 9 128 in brigades.

He further said student allowances were not tied to the accreditation of teachers but to institutional accreditation, adding that it was the accreditation of the institution that was dependent on a number of compliance factors, accreditation of lectures being one of them.

He said the source of funds for paying students allowances at brigades and technical colleges was the training levy currently under the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC), hence the link between accreditation of lectures and payment of student allowances.

As per standards, he said funds from training levy were only released for training at institutions accredited with Botswana Qualifications Authority (BQA).

Mr Goya said the ministry was working on a national qualifications framework which would provide clear career pathways, not just for diploma graduates from technical colleges, but for the entire populace.

At the moment, he said, technical students who wish to progress were absorbed by local universities such as Limkokwing and Botho.

Mr Goya further said there was a clearly defined curriculum for every programme offered in all technical colleges and brigades for both certificate and diploma courses.

He said technical colleges under the ministry use a curriculum called Botswana Technical Education Programme (BTEP), which was a locally produced curriculum.

Ngami MP, Mr Thato Kwerepe had asked the minister to state the operational capacity of technical colleges and brigades and to state why student stipend was tied to the accreditation of teachers.

He also wanted to know which government or non-government institutions absorb diploma graduates from technical schools, and whether there was a curriculum for technical institutions offering diploma or not. Ends