27 May 2021

Botswana has begun implementing two major initiatives to ensure e-education becomes the norm, says the Minister of Basic Education, Mr Fidelis Molao.

   Addressing an Africabrains transformation of education in Africa virtual summit Tuesday, he said the initiatives were SmartBots village connectivity and school digitalization projects.

  Minister Molao explained that the connectivity project was a two-year plan to connect all villages to high-speed Internet.

  Through the project, all schools, health facilities and dikgotla would have Internet access, he said. 

“Schools will be provided with 10-100 Mbps connectivity with universal Wi-Fi coverage for e-learning, while dikgotla will be provided with a minimum of 100 Mbps public Wi-Fi to serve as free access points for the entire community,” said the minister.   

Internet connectivity, he said, would ensure learning continuity even beyond the school premises. 

In addition, he said the Botswana General Education Curriculum and Assessment Framework outlined competencies and skills to be acquired by all learners using ICT as the major method of delivery. 

ICT would no longer be only a subject in the curriculum, but a tool for learning, Mr Molao said.

He said subjects such as robotics and programme, application and software development had been developed to ensure the nation delivered a 21st-century learner. 

Mr Molao said the school digitization project had begun the process of providing the necessary systems, equipment, capacity building and content. 

He said it was a three-phased approach to deliver individual ICT devices to all teachers and learners from upper primary through to senior secondary school level. 

“My ministry has embarked on a long-term capacity building plan that makes use of Trainers of Trainers (TOTs) who are stationed throughout the country for intensive online training, in collaboration with various stakeholders, including the Botswana Open University,” he said. 

He said the trainers included officers from technical and pedagogical disciplines who would train two focal persons in every school.

The focal persons would be tasked with the training of other staff and generally the implementation of e-education, he said.

He said work was ongoing to acquire relevant and appropriate e-content from various sources including Open Educational Resources, that developed in-house, in collaboration with donors or by the private sector.

Botswana, he said, had taken a ‘whole government’ approach to digital transformation.

“In the implementation of these initiatives, we are working closely with our sister ministries including Tertiary Education, Transport and Communications and Local Government and Rural Development to ensure that no opportunity to leverage on developments and expertise is left unexplored,” he said. 

Describing the private sector the ministry’s constant companion in the digital transformation journey, he said telecommunication service providers were instrumental in delivering many critical interventions and in supporting education.

Mr Molao said the summit came at an opportune time in the socio-economic development of Botswana and its education system. Ends