21 Feb 2016

Vision 2016 director of monitoring and evaluation, Dr Pelotshweu Moepeng, has told the on-going Educated and Informed Pillar Conference that government has invested a lot in education and skills development.

Addressing the conference, Dr Moepeng said there are 300 secondary schools currently, compared to 200 in 1996.

He said a survey carried out between 1996 and 2008 has indicated that enrolment in primary schools is increasing. He said the survey showed improvement in access to information since 1996 as media outlets and subscriptions increased.

It also showed a decrease in the proportion of teachers as newly built schools do not attract qualified teachers.He said since most of the newly built schools are in remote areas where people are relatively not educated, the schools are underperforming academically.

Dr Moepeng observed that some concerns that still need to be addressed in order to improve the quality of education and produce globally competitive graduates include Internet speed and the mismatch in skills and jobs.

He said that there is need to properly train teachers, provide enough textbooks and encourage Information and Communication Technology in schools.

Professor Jaap Kuiper, a curriculum advisor at the department of Curriculum Development and Evaluation indicated that 20 per cent of Batswana have tertiary education, which is higher than most sub Saharan countries.

He however said the Botswana education system is centred on knowledge and Batswana need to provide a variety of pathways at secondary school like technical vocational education and pay more attention to early childhood education.

Head of programme development and delivery in the Department of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Ms Batisitswe Pego applauded the TVET system saying it has started yielding results.

She explained that the employment rate of TVET graduates stands at 50 per cent. She said that their partnership with the Botswana Chamber of Mines, which promotes apprenticeship, also produces good results.   

For his part, the director of the Botswana Qualifications Authority, Dr Andrew Molwane said the authority’s mandate is to strive for a quality assurance system.

He stated that if a quality assurance system is implemented successfully, it will produce graduates that can compete internationally in training, employment and education.

The two day conference was held under the theme Quality Education for Sustainable Development: Towards a Global Competitive Knowledge Based Economy. ENDS