26 Sep 2017

Minister of Tertiary Education, Research Science and Technology, Dr Alfred Madigele has expressed disappointment over parents who abandon their responsibility over their children once they go to tertiary schools.

As a result, Dr Madigele said some students ended up abusing drugs and alcohol while some engaged in prostitution as a desperate avenue to source some funds.

Dr Madigele, who was addressing a kgotla meeting in Ghanzi on September 25, said parents should not hand over  their responsibility over their children to government but should continue supporting them even when they were at tertiary institutions.

He informed the community that plans were under way to review sponsorship policy and government proposal was that parents should have monetary contribution towards their children’s education.

Dr Madigele, who is also Mmathethe/Molapowabojang Member of Parliament, stated that duplication of subjects at some institutions like University of Botswana, Botswana University of Agriculture and Natural Resources and Botswana International University of Science and Technology came at a cost to government.

He explained that if all of these institutions offered similar subjects, it meant that government had to provide relevant equipment in all the institutions.

As a cost saving measure, he said government was considering rationalising these institutions to avoid duplication of courses.

Regarding target 20 000, a retooling and up skilling initiative, Dr Madigele said the programme would continue next year after missing intake this year.

On other issues, Dr Madigele stated that technology and innovation advancement was on government priorities.

He added that accelerating knowledge based economy was the way to go and had the potential to diversify the economy. ENDS