19 Nov 2020

Member of Parliament for Thamaga/Kumakwane, Mr Palelo Mataosane has implored government to invest more funds on the development of early childhood education.

Expressing his views on the State of the Nation Address, Mr Mataosane conveyed his disappointment on the low preschool enrollment as well as the lack of zeal by both parents and the government to promote early childhood education.

He said even though the President in his address indicated that the number of public primary schools offering reception classes had increased from 590 to 613 since implementation until March 2020, a lot still needed to be done as schools continued to experience very low enrolment.

He noted that parents needed to acknowledge the importance of early education, highlighting that it did not only help the child to build a foundation for primary education, but also allowed the child to gain social skills through interaction with peers.

“Preschool education is fundamental with equipping children with the basics necessities needed by children to prosper in their academic life. There is increasing evidence that children gain a lot from going to preschool and more importantly, they learn how to socialise and get along with other children,” he said.

The benefits of investing in early childhood education, he said would be of importance to the social and economic development of the society at large with benefits for future learning and success in school.

Mr Mataosane, therefore said the government needed to revisit the pre-education policy and create human resource structures that would enhance pre-education in Botswana.

He said there was a need for the establishment of head of departments positions and regional coordinators at pre-primary education levels.

He said it was also essential for government to build child friendly classrooms, citing his displeasure towards the Kumakwane Primary School preschool classroom, which he said was not in a good state.

He said the shortage of learning material and infrastructure at Kumakwane Primary School was a challenge, however. He much-admired the government efforts to provide grants to centres and daycare centres owned by Non-Government Organisation (NGOs) to assist children who were unable to benefit from the government programme.

Further, Mr Mataosane called for a review on remuneration packages for community cluster policing volunteers, saying their role in combating crime in the community could not be overemphasised.

He also urged the Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development to fund more livestock stock farming proposals since the government had secured a lucrative international market for small stock. ENDS