08 Aug 2016

Professor Peggy Ntseane of the University of Botswana - department of Non Formal Education has encouraged Out of School Education and Training (OSET) learners to up-skill. 

She was speaking at the Regional Literacy Day themed Reading The Past, Writing The Future held in Lecheng in the Central District organised by the Ministry of Education and Skills Development. 

Professor Ntseane said Botswana is one of the countries with a high literacy rate of 81 per cent.

She encouraged the attendants to look back and asses what they had achieved in the past and come up with better ways of improving the situation. 

Professor Ntseane emphasised the importance of being literate, saying an illiterate person has slight chances of doing better in business.

She said a person who can read and write can improve his/her living standard, support family and partake in the country’s development. 

However, Professor Ntseane said knowing how to read and write alone was not enough to improve one’s life, hence the need to up-skill and undertake short courses. 

She encouraged those who have passion in business, politics, health, and other aspects of education to participate in such courses, even if they are one week courses.

Professor Ntseane appealed to other departments to sponsor OSET programmes as they faced finance challenges. 

She called upon departments to offer OSET agriculture and business related short courses and also encouraged OSET department to improve their programmes so that they could attract more learners and sponsors.

Professor Ntseane advised OSET adult learners to learn their culture and preserve it.

For his part, the director for regional operations in the central region, Mr Sony Mooketsi said OSET which was founded in 1980, has a number of promotional campaigns.

He said such promotional campaigns include adult learners’ week and international literacy day commemoration in which the learners are given the opportunity to see income generating, educational projects and get first-hand information that will enable them to improve their standard of living.

He said although the aim was to hold such meetings annually, logistical problems such as shortage of transport and finance became their main challenge which prevented them from carring out such workshops.

Sharing their testimonies, some of the adult learners expressed their gratitude for taking part in OSET, saying they had learnt that education could change and shape their characters and lives.

They said knowing how to read and write had helped them as they now have privacy and they no longer ask for help from anyone.

The adult learners said they have confidence in whatever they do as they can now read and write, adding that education has accorded them basic survival skills.

One participant, Ms Gotewamang Molao said through OSET programme, she is now able to use paper mesh to design a lot of things which bring income to sustain her family.  Ends