19 Nov 2017

Technical colleges still fail to attract enough students as per the quota allocated by the government for sponsorship.

Assistant Minister of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology, Mr Fedelis Molao said out of a target of 7178, there were only 2524 students currently enrolled at technical colleges.

The assistant minister, who was addressing a kgotla meeting in Tlokweng on Thursday, said the trend was contrary to the job market requirements, which show a need for blue collar jobs in the country.

Mr Molao pleaded with parents to encourage their children to view vocational and technical training as viable training, more so that government was shifting focus to vocational education.

Further, Mr Molao said the University of Botswana and public  colleges had also been experiencing reduction in student’s enrollment numbers, saying this might be due to competition from various private institutions.

Mr Molao also said his ministry was  working with both colleges of education and the University of Botswana faculty of education to see to it that colleges of education offer courses up to degree level.

He added that the move could entice some students to enroll with colleges of education and add to numbers attracted to those colleges.

Batlokwa deputy chief, Kgosi Michael Gaborone said they have a high number of cases originating from schools in Gaborone at the tribal authority.

Kgosi Gaborone attributed those to the village proximity to the city and widespread incidents of youth delinquencies.

The Batlokwa royal also said parents had forsaken their responsibility of disciplining their children for wayward behaviour, adding that children accused parents of abusing them for any kind of discipline, which he said had become difficult for parents to instill discipline

The area Member of Parliament, Mr Kenneth Segokgo said investing on technology and research was the way to go, adding that some of the developed countries were successful through investment in technology and research.

Mr Segokgo said Botswana could take advantage of the abundance of sunshine and invest in solar energy. ENDs