30 Aug 2020

The country’s education sector needs to be focused on delivering products who are ready to provide the skills the country needs to drive its economy and development plans, Francistown South MP, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi has said. 

Debating on the economy and employment sector of the eleventh National Development Plan (NDP 11) Mid-Term Review in Parliament, Mr Mmolotsi said the country needed to invest more strategically in its education.

He said that while in the past there were many Batswana who were sent to tertiary institutions in the country and abroad, they often returned having studied similar subjects creating a saturation of a few professions in the job market, while there was skills shortage in other vocations.

Mr Mmolotsi said the education sector should be used to prepare people who would be ready to plug the skills mismatch in the economy. 

He also said the formal schooling system left many students in the lurch, particularly those gifted in vocational skills.

Noting that Botswana should have long followed the late educationalists Mr Patrick van Rensburg’s model of Education With Production, Mr Mmolotsi said the government’s move towards the Education and Training Sector Strategic Plan (ETTSP) was a welcome move.

While pursuing the multiple pathways would allow pupils with different skills  to develop their capabilities, Mr Mmolotsi still hastened to caution that various factors were still important for good education outcomes.

He said the quality of the curriculum, having well trained teachers, the provision of enough textbooks and other teaching materials as well as the infrastructure in schools were important for providing a conducive environment for learning.

Mr Mmolotsi further called for the construction of a secondary school in Francistown South, decrying that high school pupils in his constituency have to travel a distance to access Francistown Secondary School and Mater Spei College.

He also urged government to encourage home ownership. Recalling that the Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC) in the past pursued the Tenant Purchase Scheme, which allowed tenants to pay rent with a long term view of acquiring property for ownership, Mr Mmolotsi said such initiatives should be revived to benefit Batswana.

Palapye MP, Mr Onnetse Ramogapi said while the government had committed to improving the ease of doing business, there were other bottlenecks that needed to be addressed, particularly at local government level.

He said that entrepreneurs often struggle to access land, a crucial factor of production, and some local councils compound matters by taking up to six months to approve building plans, which delays the setting up of businesses.

Mr Ramogapi said more funds should be availed to the Citizen Entrepreneurial Agency (CEDA) to allow more Batswana to access loans through the improved guidelines. 

He however lamented poor labour relations in the country, citing the example of some companies in his constituency hiring people on one month contracts.

On education, Mr Ramogapi said the Revised National Policy on Education (RNPE, published in 1994 after the work of the Kedikilwe Commission from 1993, had long prescribed that the country should have a qualifications authority, pre-school education, and a one to 30 teacher-pupil ratio.

While a qualifications authority had since been established, some private tertiary institutions had not yet been approved which proves a burden for students transferring from them to traditional institutions such as the University of Botswana, as their previous credits are discarded, Mr Ramogapi said.

He said universal access to pre-school education as well as achieving the desired teacher-pupil ratio remained a dream being pursued at a snail’s pace despite over 25 years having passed since the Kedikilwe Commission published its report. Ends