01 Jul 2013

The budget allocation for the Ministry of Education and Skills Development is a sign that government values education.

Addressing South African parliamentarians, Botswana’s chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Education, Mr Bagalatia Arone noted that the ministry received P8.7 billion in the last budget which was a clear testimony that the country valued the education of its people.

Mr Arone, who is also the Member of Parliament for Okavango, said the ministry still faced many challenges such as complaints from teachers about the poor working conditions. The MP said some teachers resigned if they were posted to remote areas.

Mr Arone expressed gratitude to the support that South Africa had offered Botswana, saying a lot of Batswana studied in South Africa institutions. He said for Botswana to have sent students to study in South Africa showed that “we trust the quality of education that your country is offering.”

For his part, a member of the South African Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, Mr Silas Makhubela said incentives to the teaching profession still remained a challenge even in South Africa. Mr Makhubela said the South African government had offered incentives such as free accommodation for teachers in rural areas. He said the class – teacher ratio was high.

The South African delegation was on a week-long benchmarking mission in order to improve the quality of their education.

The delegation also came to explore the system of Early Childhood Education Development (ECD) as well as gain insight on how Botswana managed to reduce the achievement gap among learners. ENDS