26 Jul 2017

Department of Curriculum Development and Evaluation director, Mr Leonard Mutheto has underscored the need for all stakeholders to come on board and strive for the transformation of the education system in order to compete globally.

Mr Muthetho said in education, there was no way they could succeed if people still think that education was for teachers and the Ministry of Basic Education only.

He said this at a stakeholder consultative presentation on education reform, where the District Extension Team (DET) committee was briefed about the Education and Training Sector Strategic Plan (ETSSP) which emphasised on outcome based education and multiple pathways.

He explained that government, through the Ministry of Basic Education, had set out its priority to have improved sector wide planning leading to improved education sector performance in the next five years.

The development of the five-year Education and ETSSP, he said, was expected to address effects on the future education in Botswana.

The plan sets out many of the challenges facing the education sector and the varied strategies, programmes and activities to meet the challenges.

He further explained that ETSSP aimed at positioning the education sector to play a catalytic role in transforming Botswana from a resource based to knowledge and a high income country.

Mr Mutheto said the plan also aimed at improving sector performance to produce a knowledgeable and skilled nation through life-long learning.

ETSSP is an extensive undertaking that addresses a number of pillars such as improving access, quality, inclusion and equity, accountability and governance in the education system.

He added that implementing ETSSP would require transformation of the current management system of the education sector.

Mr Mutheto said the reform was introduced after thorough consultations to find out the pains in education sector in general adding that the reports and commissions came up with issues, which as the country they had to see how best to address them.

He cited some of the issues such as the declining quality and relevance of education, challenges of the quality of inputs to education, mismatch of skills to industry needs, no clear pathways across the system; low access to early child education and unequal participation in education experience.

The director said before the reforms, they reflected back and ensured that what they were doing was in line with the global commitments such as Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“The reform is a working document and it is broad as it included all sectors be it public and private. We want all to have ownership and at the same time participate in the implementation to ensure no one is left behind,” he added.

Mr Mutheto admitted that although they were behind the schedule in terms of implementation, they were hopeful that the outcome would be visible by 2019. ENDS