13 Jan 2016

The Seychelles delegation on a fact finding mission on Technical and Vocational Training (TVET) in Botswana has stated that the benchmarking mission is geared towards forging long lasting partnerships between the two countries.

As part of their mission, the delegation from the Ministry of Education in Seychelles visited the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC) and Botswana Qualifications Authority (BQA) on Tuesday where they shared information and experiences on the education systems of the two countries.

The Seychelles head of delegation, Mr Jean Alcindor said the visit was aimed at looking at the TVET governance structures and the expertise that exists in the technical institutions and the linkages between different colleges in Botswana.

He said he believed that it would be a good partnership due to the fact that they were exchanging notes and learning from each other.

Mr Alcindor highlighted that Seychelles was looking to improve her TVET education system, adding that the benchmarking would help them achieve the mission.

“We want to improve the quality of graduates we send out into the market and hence such partnerships help us achieve this because we exchange notes with other countries.”

The HRDC acting CEO, Dr Patrick Molutsi said Botswana’s TVET system was evolving and going through restructuring, adding that they were also interested in learning from Seychelles.

He noted that they have been sharing information and knowledge with other countries in the SADC region, and said the HRDC encouraged such partnerships.

Dr Molutsi said they were privileged to have hosted the delegation, adding that it shows that there was something that they were doing right which other countries would like to copy.

The qualifications authority acting deputy CEO, Dr Andrew Molwane said they believe in quality service and skilled manpower hence their mandate to strive for quality assurance for all education system.

He noted that the organisation exists to evaluate and register local and foreign qualifications.

This, he said, was to rule out bogus qualifications that could cost the country in the long run.

“Professionals with bogus qualifications are an eyesore and have cost the world at large because they put lives at risks,” he noted.

He said as BQA when they do go through thorough quality compliance checks from pre-school to doctorate qualifications, adding that if they find out an institution does not comply then they take disciplinary action against the entity.

He added that BQA gives all institutions support to meet standards and were given a window period to rectify their defaults and improve where there was need. Ends