02 Mar 2017

The expansion and re-designation of education ministry portfolios was intended to ensure enhanced delivery and commitment by government of its key priority areas, being the achievement of sustained economic development, diversification through citizen empowerment and accelerated job creation, especially among the youth, to ensure dignified livelihoods for all Batswana

Addressing a staff meeting at Serowe College of Education on February 28, assistant minister of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology, also Member Of Parliament for Shashe West, Mr Fidelis Molao said the re-organisation exercise needed to be viewed as an attempt to bring about synergy and efficiency in the system, adding that structures were still being set for the ministry to be fully fledged.

Mr Molao however, stated that the ministry’s mandate had been articulated as responsible for policy, tertiary institutions and coordinating research, science and technology development to transform to a knowledge based economy.

He said tertiary education focused on producing graduates that were relevant to industry requirements; therefore the ministry was entrusted with a transformation task which entailed building a knowledge based society to drive innovation.

Mr Molao stated that even though the ministry was almost at a tail end to share ideas and plans to make sure they became a model ministry, there were challenges the ministry had to contend with in the recent weeks that brought instability within the tertiary education sector.

The main issues that caused the discontent, he said were late payments, programme accreditation and prices charged by book shops that operated within some campuses.

He noted that it was a collective undertaking that all institutions under the ministry contributed towards its attainment in order to enable the country to realise its aspirations as espoused in vision 2036 which spoke of achieving prosperity for all. ENDS