25 Sep 2017

Government has ensured that education remains priority in the country’s socio-economic development process, Vice President, Mr Mokgweetsi Masisi has said.

Addressing a high level meeting of the education commission at the United Nations in New York, United States of America recently, Mr Masisi said education continued to receive the largest share of the national budget.

He said Botswana was proud to have been among the developing nations that achieved the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) priority of achieving universal primary education.

“Building on this success, we have now shifted from ensuring universal access to primary education to ensuring provision of quality basic education that is universally accessible and also capable of equipping our young people with requisite knowledge and skills,” Mr Masisi said.

He added that with the underlying objective of transforming Botswana from being a mineral resource based economy to a knowledge based economy underpinned by innovation, science and technology, efforts were underway to transform the education sector through the Educational and Training Sector Strategic Plan.

Mr Masisi said the plan identified various challenges facing the education sector and further outlined strategies of addressing them.

He said some of the areas that had been identified as critical included improving the quality and relevance of education; focusing on lifelong learning; strengthening skills development; improving the management of education; utilisation and integration of information communications technology and improving monitoring and evaluation.

Mr Masisi urged the UN to give financial assistance to education efforts to developing states such as Botswana.

The Vice President attended the event after an invitation was extended to Botswana by the commissioners of the UN Education Commission, former British Prime Minister, Mr Gordon Brown, and former President of Tanzania, Mr Jakaya Kikwete. ENDS