15 Mar 2020

Japanese Ambassador to Botswana, Mr Kozo Takeda has pledged support to Botswana’s efforts to transform from resource-based to a knowledge-based economy through the various human resource training programmes.

At a reception to bid farewell two Batswana who have won the scholarships to pursue their master’s degree in Japan recently, Mr Takeda said to date, 33 Batswana had successfully received scholarships from the Japanese government since 2005 for undergraduate and post-graduate programmes.

He said some of the beneficiaries had returned to Botswana and were lecturers at the University of Botswana while some were in critical positions in the Botswana public service and SADC.

Mr Takeda said this year they had introduced a scholarship for teachers training to Botswana for the first time under which Batswana teachers visit, study and receive training in Japan.

He said the selection process was still ongoing with the assistance of the Ministry of Basic Education.

He said his government also offered the African Business Education (ABE) initiative for youth scholarships, a creative programme combining master’s degree programmes in Japanese Universities with hands-on internship training at Japanese companies.

The ambassador said the initiative had been successfully implemented and benefitted over 10 Batswana.

“While ABE initiative is a relatively new scheme in Japan’s human resource development for Africa, we cannot forget the contribution by training offered by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA),” he said.

Mr Takeda said a great number of Batswana received state of the art training courses every year in various fields in Japan in which 800 Batswana have benefitted.

For his part, the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research Science and Technology, Dr Theophilus Mooko thanked the Japanese government for their generous support to Botswana.

He urged the recipients of the scholarship to study hard and contribute to the development of the country. 

He said the government appreciated the friendly support and cordial relationship that existed between the two countries.

Dr Mooko told them that they were likely to experience culture shock upon arrival in Japan and urged them to embrace the Japanese culture in order for them to ease their stay in the Asian country. Ends