08 Feb 2017

 The director of Curriculum Development and Education in the Ministry of Basic Education Mr Leonard Mutheto has hailed private pre schools for taking the lead in shaping the future of Batswana.

Speaking during the Think Equal programme for Training of Pre Primary school teachers in Gaborone on Monday, Mr Mutheto said early childhood education has been long implemented by private schools in Botswana but he was happy that the public sector was now following suit.

He said Botswana government has now introduced inclusive childhood education for every child, adding that childhood education lays a very good foundation to ensure that the young ones were brought up appropriately.

He also hailed the education ministry for its commitment saying even resources were in place to ensure implementation of education at that stage.

Mr Mutheto further stated that as part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) every child had a right to education adding that no child should be left behind in attaining childhood education.

For her part, the founder and CEO of Thank Equal Ms Leslee Udwin said Think Equal aimed for a long overdue system change in education to support a new generation of global citizens in the context of the United Nation’s post -2015 SDG.

Ms Udwin said its purpose is to add social and emotional learning as a compulsory new subject national curricula around the world.

“Children should learn respect, equality and morality at a very young age” she pointed, saying right education must start from the very beginning of every child’s formal education.

She mentioned that if children were educated when young, it would holistically teach them to be in touch emotionally and practice to be responsible towards other human beings.

She stated that children would be given a profound grounding in human rights, equality, empathy and ethics thereby building the foundation for individual and societal progress.

Ms Udwin pointed out that their mission was to secure national commitments to adapt to each country’s cultural specifics and adopt as mandatory from the early years, the Think Equal Curriculum to empower and transform mind sets in children and youth around the world. ENDS