11 Sep 2017

The Assistant Minister of Basic Education, Mr Moiseraele Goya has urged residents of Serowe to make attempts in learning to use modern technologies if they wished to be digitally literate.

Mr Goya said this at the International Literacy Day Commemoration organised by the Ministry of Basic Education in Serowe on Friday.

“Developments should meet the needs of the present generations for them to cope with the current situation.

This basically means that everyone needs to be digitally literate in order to have an effective and meaningful life in the digital environment they live in,” he said.

Mr Goya reiterated that Government of Botswana had a national Information Communication Technology (ICT) Policy called Maitlamo, which provided a roadmap to drive social, economic, cultural and political transformation through effective use of ICTs.

“This aims to provide a communications network that meets high international standards that ensure that the country has the skills to be an ICT leader,” he said.

He said Thuto, was another project that incorporated schools connectivity in linking all secondary schools to the internet adding that at present, 104 secondary schools out of 235 throughout the country had internet access.

“The programme is rolling out to other schools.

All secondary schools in Botswana have computer laboratories with about 15-20 computers,” he said.

Mr Goya further said the initiative was aimed at reducing literacy gabs between students in urban and rural schools.

“To fast track this initiative, teachers are trained on the program. The department responsible for laying out the infrastructure is working together with the departments of education to train teachers on using ICT as a classroom tool,” he said.

He noted that the rapid advancement of ICT during the last decade radically affected individual’s social lives.

“It has also transformed the industrial-centered society to a new and dynamic society which is now described as information society, knowledge society or global universal society,” he said.

He said Sesigo project provided adult learners with basic ICT skills in local libraries and was meant to reach out to those who did not have access to school facilities and used the lifelong learning mode to acquire ICT skills. He however noted that the aforementioned developments presented challenges as most adults had to constantly keep up with the challenges.

He highlighted that there was need to bridge the digital divide and effectively confront issues of exclusion and marginalisation that accompanied the increasing importance of ICT mediated activities in modern life.

“Today more than ever, adult learners need to update their knowledge for skills improvement, job advancement, personal growth and understanding.

There are people who lack the digital literacy, do not have access to information and do not understand the value of such in their day to day lives,” he said.

Kgosi Gomoleng Omphile commended the ministry for their efforts in educating the nation.

He appealed to teachers not to tire or feel they had done enough in performing their duties as more still needed to be done.

“We still have more people who are not literate and are in need of your services,” he said.

He pleaded with the minister to continue encouraging the learners to further their studies. Ends