16 Jul 2019

The  Minister of Basic Education, Mr Bagalatia Arone, has presented the draft Botswana Teaching Professionals’ Council Bill to Parliament.

Minister Arone said the bill was meant to provide for, among other things, regulation of the teaching profession through establishment of the Botswana Teaching Professionals’ Council.

“It has been observed that a lot of people are employed to teach whilst they have no qualifications or work ethics necessary to achieve effective teaching and learning, “ said Mr Arone.

This, he said, compromised the quality of teaching and learning. Therefore, he said it was imperative to establish a professional regulatory body that would monitor the teaching practice and ensure that those with the required qualifications and work ethics were registered as teachers.

He said part two of the bill seeks to establish the Botswana Teaching Professionals Council as a body corporate and sets out its objectives and functions while part three of the bill sought to establish a governing body of council, being a board of the council and provided for tenure of the members, filling of vacancies, remuneration, qualifications, resignation as well as suspension of a member.

Part four and five of the bill  makes provisions for meetings and proceedings of the board and its committees and also provides for appointment of the accounting officer of the council, being the registrar and other officers of the council, Minister Arone indicated.

Furthermore, Minister Arone  said in part six, the bill  sets out the financial provisions, when the financial year of the council ends, when proper accounts and audit should be done and when an audited financial report should be submitted.

He also noted that part seven and eight respectively provides for registration of teachers and for the establishment of the disciplinary committee and other inquiries.

In addition, Mr Arone says tthe draft bill provides for miscellaneous provisions, offences and penalties under the act. He said part nine of the bill also gives the minister power to make regulations and provides for transitional savings.

Contributing on the bill, the Vice President, Mr Slumber Tsogwane, said the bill was a progressive piece of legislation. He said there was need to have professionals in the teaching field, who could be trusted with children’s education.

MP for Nkange, Mr Edwin Batshu said teachers should be appreciated as pillars of education.

Mr Batshu said the implementation of Public Service Act brought many challenging issues around the teaching profession, such as hours of work which treated teachers the same way as with other public servants.

However, MP  for Serowe South, Dr Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, said that there was need to have  regulating body for all professions. She welcomed the bill describing it as progressive for the teaching profession.

“With this bill, teachers will be identified and also be restricted to follow rules and regulations as per the council,” Dr Venson-Moitoi said.

She  also said the regulating body would also provide for qualified and professional local teachers.

She said there were many  foreign teachers, some of them were expelled and their licenses revoked by the regulatory bodies in their countries.

“It is necessary that this Bill provides for registration of teachers and for the establishment of the disciplinary committee and other inquiries,” she said. Ends