14 Feb 2021

A joint task team mandated to review school sport has handed over the final report to ministries of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development and Basic Education.

Speaking during the official handing over of the report in Gaborone on Thursday, chairperson of the joint task team, Tapiwa Masunga said there was need for collaborative effort in delivering school sport.

She said all stakeholders and strategic partners needed to agree, collaborate and engage in order to deliver effective school sports.  

Masunga said among their recommendations included  mandatory physical activity in the school curriculum, as well as providing all learners with an opportunity to explore, develop and nurture their sport talent.

She said they also highlighted the need for parents’ involvement for them to realise the importance of sport in the development of their children.Another recommendation, she said was a requirement for a certain level of qualification for persons delivering school sport and physical activity, to ensure that there was quality standard of sport.

She indicated that those who were already in the field would have to be continuously afforded professional development.

She said they also identified national sporting associations as key role players, hence the need for them to be given access to schools for talent identification and development of structures.

Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Tumiso Rakgare acknowledged the joint task team for a job well done and also thanked Ministry of Basic Education for allowing the team to work with various schools, around the country, with no challenges.
He indicated that the report demonstrated commitment, passion for sport in general and the intent to uplift Botswana sport on the part of the task team.
He promised that government would do its best to uplift sport through the recommendations, adding ‘we will continuously be referring to this report to guide us in planning and decision making’.

Rakgare said they had hoped to commence school sport activities in January, but that was not possible due to COVID-19, revealing however, that they were preparing to implement the report’s recommendations, so that when circumstances allow, sport activities could start.

For his part, Minister of Basic Education, Fidelis Molao said the joint task team traversed the length and breadth of the country to consult and engage with parents, learners, teachers, sports fraternity and academia, among others.

He highlighted that in addition to social engagement, a comprehensive analysis of contemporary literature, including statutory and policy documents, as well as benchmarking with the best practices in Africa and beyond, were done to further inform the exercise.

Molao said they were therefore confident that the recommendations were based on research and good practices.

He said physical activity was an integral part of the holistic development of human beings, hence an effective school curriculum should be geared towards the development of emotional, cognitive and physical abilities of learners.

He said his hope was for the report to have a relatively cost effective model for running school sports, unlike the one that had been used, which proved to be expensive and unsustainable, as a large portion of the ministry’s budget had been depleted on sports related costs, at the expense of core business. ENDS