01 Nov 2020

Tertiary education, research, science and technology ministry spends about P2.4 billion on students’ tuition and living allowances, with close to a billion Pula going towards living allowances only.

Addressing a consultative kgotla meeting in Mabutsane on October 29, Assistant Minister Machana Shamukuni said the increase in the number of students that needed government sponsorship, raised the probability of government requesting parents to assist as costs rose.

Stressing that the current financing model was not sustainable, Mr Shamukuni said the tertiary education policy was being developed to support tertiary education financing.

He said the final decision might lean towards increased private sector participation and possibly requesting parents with the means to assist.

He said this would help government free up some funds to be used to sponsor the needy, thereby increasing access to tertiary education. 

Mr Shamukuni pleaded with parents to embrace such a decision, should it be taken, saying it would not be foreign to the nation as evidenced by the establishment of the University of Botswana.

He also informed residents that government intended to be positively biased towards developing science, mathematics, engineering and technology based skills since they had the potential to boost the economy, especially in the fourth industrial revolution era.

He said at the moment, 60 per cent of the ministry’s budget went to sponsoring courses related to those areas, as they were seen to have more global economic relevance.

Mr Shamukuni also called for the need to dispel negative perceptions about Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET) in favour of white collar jobs, saying TVET courses had potential to assist in self-employment.

The assistant minister encouraged residents, especially the youth, to up-skill themselves through the Botswana Open University (BOU), which had a campus in Kang, saying its advantage was that its courses were mostly through distance learning.

Mr Shamukuni was responding to Kgosi Kgakgamatso Moletsane’s complaint of lack of tertiary institutions in the area, which he said deprived the youth of opportunities to up-skill themselves.

For his part, the Member of Parliament for Jwaneng-Mabutsane, Mr Mephato Reatile also advised government to look into skimming other programmes such as LIMID and ISPAAD of undeserving beneficiaries, saying that would also help government free up some funds.

 He said that was an even better option than requiring parents to pay.

Mr Reatile said such programmes should not be seen as a right for  every citizen. Ends