27 Mar 2019

There is need to come up with innovative approaches to teaching Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) programmes as well as to make them more pragmatic and appealing to young learners. 

Officially opening the 2019 Botswana Human Resource Development Council skills fair and career guidance clinics on Tuesday, Minister of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology Mr Thapelo Olopeng said this would help the nation to become relevant to the world of open data, digitalisation and robotics. 

“We should transmit enterprising values and behaviours to our graduates to foster competitive human capital,” he said.

He said the establishment of Botswana International University Science and Technology (BIUST), Botswana Institute for Technology Research and Innovation (BITRI) and the Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH), was a demonstration of government’s commitment to research, science, technology and innovation. 

 He said in a bid to transform the economy, government had increased the number of sponsored students from 11 998 in 2017/18 to 13 490 in the current financial year. 

“Currently the total number of students under government sponsorship is 35 777, including 522 students in external placement,” he said

The minister said priority areas for training were health, engineering, professional accounting, finance and business. 

“We believe this will help the country to increase the number of industry-specific skills to improve the chances of our graduates being globally competitive,” he said.

Furthermore, Minister Olopeng said the country was faced with the challenges of high unemployment among graduates and a high import bill. 

“As a country, we continue to import everything - from a pen to the food we eat. To this end, our theme speaks to the reality that through career guidance, we can produce graduates with suitable skills for the manufacturing sector in order to create more jobs and reduce the import bill, hence economic diversification,” he said.

This year’s theme was: Career guidance; A gateway towards diversifying Botswana’s Economy: 10 years and beyond. ENDS