12 Jun 2016

The Ministry of Education and Skills Development is undertaking an exercise to rationalise tertiary institutions with a view to address their optimum and efficient use while addressing issues of quality, access, equity and sustainability.

Assistant Minister Fidelis Molao said this at the official opening of Brigades and Technical Colleges Principal’s Forum seminar on Thursday.

“At the centre of rationalisation is the need to ensure effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of the education sector in Botswana,” he noted.

Mr Molao said the rationalisation task team would advise the ministry on how the education institutions should be rationalised to ensure their optimum use to produce high quality graduates that met the countries strategic human resource requirements in a cost-effective manner.

He explained that the development of Botswana’s economy was dependent on a strong technical vocational education and training (TVET), hence calling on all stakeholders to be innovative and proactive in re-branding TVET as an engine of the country’s economic growth.

“In the wake of diversifying the economy, the government developed the Education and Training Sector Strategic Plan (ETSSP), which should not be delayed but implemented upon and provision of a report on it timeously,” he said.

Making some deliberations on the forum, the acting deputy permanent secretary, Mr Labane Mokgosi said the rationalisation exercise for TVET was necessary to improve the quality of technical education in Botswana.

He said issues of inadequate resources and lack of academic capacities in most of these institutions are going to be rectified once final analysis of rationalization exercise was finalised.

In her welcome remarks, the Acting Director of TVET, Mr Oarabile Akoonyatse said the forum was started to help technical and vocational college leaders come up with ways in which this institution could be improved to provide best education possible and to network.

Gaborone Technical College (GTC) principal, Mr Michael Gwebu said First National Bank had been awarded the tender to pay student allowances and that TVET student allowance would be uniform across all schools.ENDS