13 Feb 2018

Ministry of Basic Education (MoBE) is working round the clock to ensure that all primary schools have at least one pre-primary class following the piloting of the programme in some schools in 2014.

Speaking at a two-day seminar on Education and Training Sector Strategy Plan (ETSSP) launch in Palapye recently, the project coordinator, Dr Moses Mengwe said the programme would be compulsory for all primary schools next year, with at least one class per school.

He said it was done to improve education hence the need for proper planning and funding.

Dr Mengwe also said the programme would improve equitable accessibility of education and create a conducive learning environment for pupils.

“This may sound new but it is an old primary school method that was used in the past where pupils started with Sub A and proceed to Sub B before they could proceed to Standard One,” he said.

He said the ministry’s strategic plan was aimed at developing new and alternative pathways for education and addressing the mismatch of skills.

Dr Mengwe further said the programme would allow pupils to be examined in five core subjects unlike currently where they write more than eight subjects. He said the programme was expected to be fully operational by 2020 in all public schools.

He said the programme would allow schools management to identify pupils from grassroots level, and classify them according to their capability and level of understanding.

He said the introduction of pathways and the implementation of the new system was also expected to kick off next year, with the intention of transforming the education system.

Turning to senior secondary schools, he said it was expected that the transformation would affect 34 secondary schools in the country. He added that budgeting and good procurement would be needed for implementation.

Dr Mongwe said the introduction of multiple pathways at schools would have to focus on three categories of technical, professional and academic.

He said the programme would be piloted in three senior schools, and that Moeng would focus on agriculture, Letlhakane senior would focus on borehole maintenance and drilling while Maun senior would focus on tourism and hospitality.

He said there was the possibility that the number of piloting schools might increase to 10 schools depending on funds.

He said implementation would require the provision of infrastructure and expansion of schools.

For her part, acting finance manager, Ms Nametso Malaka from the Ministry of Basic Education shared information on the preparation of a budget, recurrent expenditure, monitoring and reporting.

Ms Malaka also talked about the accumulation of taxes and what it meant to government coffers.

She went further to talk about revenue collection, adding that sources of revenue at schools were generated from school fees and agricultural products although schools were still facing the challenge of unpaid school fees.

She urged participants to budget on time for leave concessions and other payments, especially for teachers. 

Participants called for the induction of newly employed staff to enable them to handle sensitive issues like budgeting and purchasing.

The seminar was organised for all the districts under the Ministry of Education with the goal to familiarise themselves with education transformations. BOPA