15 Nov 2020

Government has been urged to ramp up efforts to provide quality education as it is a vital pillar for socio-economic development.

In his contribution to the State-of-the-Nation Address (SONA), Ngami MP, Mr Carter Hikuama said the government must yearn for education that was capable of fighting poverty and creating jobs.

He said contrary to that, the level of education was not satisfactory and could not produce market-ready graduates.

He said the implementation of reform programmes under the Education and Training Sector Strategic Plan (ETSSP) was still a challenge as there was no commitment on the part of the government.

Mr Hikuama said access to early childhood education was also a challenge because of poor infrastructure nationwide.

He pleaded with the government to employ teachers on a permanent and pensionable basis to alleviate the disturbing pupil/ teacher ratio challenge.

Mr Hikuama said the government might also consider providing housing allowance to teachers to tackle accommodation shortage.

He said to provide a conducive environment for learning government must allow easy access to information and communication technology (ICT), adding that the provision of e-learning was long overdue. Mr Hikuama applauded the establishment of the Botswana Professional Teaching Council and pleaded with legislators not to politicise the institution.

He said the introduction of mother tongue as a medium of instruction in education was long overdue and urged the government to set out standards for the preparation of the syllabi and recruitment of teachers.

On nation-building, the legislator said the Botswana Democratic Party led government was not doing much to unite the nation.

He said through instruments such as the assimilation policy, the government had created self-hate amongst the so-called ‘meratshwana’. He said the constitution ought to be tribally neutral.

Mr Hikuama called on Parliament to lift the State of Emergency, arguing that there was no correlation between the fight against COVID-19 and the state of emergency. He urged the government to assist regions such as the North West which were hard hit by lack of economic activity after a slump in the tourism sector.

For his part, the Minister of Basic Education Mr Fidelis Molao said the ETSSP was work in progress as it involved rigorous consultations. He said the Revised National Policies on Education (RNPEs) had recommended a 30 pupils per class ratio and plans were underway to engage temporary teacher permanently to address such.

Mr Molao said challenges were identified in the provision of early childhood development education and efforts were in place to address the challenges as consultation with several stakeholders to alleviate such was ongoing.

Mr Molao who is also MP for Shashe West applauded the SONA as presented by President Masisi and said it was a report card that had to be looked at fairly and not selectively as opposition members were doing.

He said despite the tough economic strain brought in by the pandemic, the government was prioritising the health of citizens.

He said countries which rushed to open the economy against the spread of the virus were now going back into hard lockdowns and the virus was not manageable.

Mr Molao the P14 billion set aside to revive the economy going forward was an indication of the government’s commitment. He said some projects were lagging because terms of loans in some instances were not favourable to Botswana government.

Shoshong MP, Mr Aubrey Lesaso decried the poor economic and health status of his constituents. He said the school infrastructure was in a sad state.

He said land servicing, infrastructure and teachers housing was a challenge.

He called for the establishment of the rural housing development and provision of ICT to meet the expectations of a fourth industrial revolution nation.

He told Parliament that citizens were selling tribal land out of desperation. Ends