07 Sep 2017

In an effort to be more visible, Botswana Association of Teachers of English (BETA) has unveiled a new logo, which comprises of three colours that represent the country’s national symbols.

BETA was formed in July 2015 with the aim to improve the practice of English language subject’s teaching and learning.

The logo was designed by Molepolole College of Education.

Speaking during the unveiling of the logo, the assistant director of Education in the North West region, Mr Justice Baloyi commended the association for a job well done, noting that they were on the right direction.

He said some people were not aware of the existence of the association and stated that the logo would make it more visible.

The logo, he said has a significance considering the features such as the hand shake, the certificate and the hood, the blue and black wave and the two black lines that ingest the abbreviation ‘BATE’.

The two bold lines, he said represent a strong foundation upon which the association is built and that of English as a language and a subject in Botswana.

Mr Baloyi revealed that strong foundation that the association is built on strengthens it in that teachers of English produce quality human resource that could confidently compete in the global village.

For the certificate and the hood, he said they were normally associated with graduation, adding that the two suggest that when students are grounded in the English language, they are likely to perform well and good performance leads to graduation.

They also represent the trained personnel or professionals that are there in schools.

With regard to the hand shake, Mr Baloyi observed that for centuries, the hand shake has been a social custom practiced by men and women of all status that signifies mutual respect and support for one another in both business and social arenas.

“In a nutshell, hand shake represents mutual agreement, unity and promise between two or more peoples.

The hand shake in this logo is derived from the objective of the association in its constitution, which states that it aims to encourage cooperation and mutual support in teaching and learning of English,” he added.

However, Mr Baloyi called on the association to continue with the recruitment drive and remain strong despite the challenges they may encounter.

He said people would always talk, criticize it, but advised members to work on the criticism to take the association to another level.

He said they should strive to make a change by capturing all negative thinking and turn it into positive noise.

He assured the association support in every programme they undertake, noting that proper English is a good foundation since all subjects are taught in English.

For his part, the chairperson of the association, Mr Lesotlho Sebogodi explained that the association started off as a focused group meeting convened by the British Council, who later invited the American Embassy’s Public Relation Affairs Unit to subsequent meetings.

He said to date, the association is operational at eight out of ten ministry of Basic Education regions, all the four Colleges of Education, University of Botswana both main campus in Gaborone and Maun Campus, BIUST and a number of private schools.

The association has no structures in the remaining two regions of Kgalagadi and Central, but has members who applied as individuals.

Mr Sebogodi further explained that the association had maintained friendship with the founding stakeholders of British Council and United States Embassy in Botswana.

He said a third stakeholder in the British Council; Ethiopia has also been brought on board. Internationally, the association has formed friendships. BOPA