03 Mar 2022

Education institutions will travel across the country as a collective with the aim of extending their services to communities.

The roadshow dubbed 2022 Tertiary Institutions National Roadshow, comprises 15 institutions from both public and private sector. It is expected to provide equal opportunities for students to apply for learning programmes of their choice.

Speaking during the roadshow launch in Gaborone, tertiary institutions roadshow committee chairperson, Mr Chris Moiketsi said the roadshow was an initiative intended to spread the gospel of education to post-secondary school students.

Mr Moiketsi stated that the roadshow was originally organised by the Human Resources Development Council (HRDC), but in 2014, HRDC decided to concentrate on skills development fair.

“We then took it upon ourselves as local institutions to pick up where HRDC left off and continue the journey of providing easier access to higher learning education to the youth,” he said.

Mr Moiketsi further said since the inception of the roadshow in 2015, thousands of students had been admitted into tertiary education through collective efforts of local institutions.

“This initiative directly responds to national human resource development strategy, subsequently ensuring that the government’s goal of achieving a knowledge based economy is realised,” he explained.

In addition to assisting government with cost sharing, participating institutions would offer 15 tuition scholarships to the value of P15 million to selected students.

Mr Moiketsi also stated that in order to promote a seamless partnership in tertiary education, the committee had collaborated with Access Bank, with the goal of providing potential students with financial literacy skills.

For her part, Access Bank country head of banking, Ms Grace Setlhare-Mankanku said they saw it fit to partner with tertiary institutions national roadshow since they had the ability to understand and respond to the unique needs of the student population of the country.

“When the opportunity arose for us to partner with the roadshow, for us it was a no brainer, as it was an initiative that was close to our hearts,” she stated.

Ms Setlhare-Mankanku further expressed that as a former student, she understood the struggle of balancing competing financial needs while trying to figure out creative ways to stretch her finances a bit further.

She said it was through budgeting and sound financial planning that one could form a healthy relationship with money.

“As Access Bank we have a budgeting tool on our website that students can start accessing as soon as they have enrolled in their chosen tertiary institutions,” she said.

The roadshow is scheduled to commence on Monday. ENDS