20 Sep 2022

Attainment of a knowledge-based economy is dependent on the effectiveness of the country’s investments in education, learning and training. 

Minister of Education and Skills Development Dr Douglas Letsholathebe said this during a high-level side event at the global transformation education summit in New York on September 19.

Therefore, he said, ‘Botswana will take advantage of the digital literacy and e-learning tools to prepare children and youth for the future of work and ensure digital inclusion through connecting young people to information opportunities’. 

Dr Letsholathebe stated that plans were also underway to implement education reforms that would enhance the quality of education and usher in a new dawn for Botswana.

According to the minister, the introduction of multi pathways at senior secondary school level was among the critical reforms that could enhance government’s drive towards a knowledge-based economy.

Saying unemployment had become an impediment to the country’s transformation, he emphasised the need to create opportunities for young people.

Dr Letsholathebe said the planned introduction of mother tongue in schools would help create the much-needed jobs through developing and translating study material into different languages. 

Plans to introduce mother tongue in early childhood learning were at an advanced stage and could be implemented as early as  January in some selected areas, he said.   

 Describing a knowledge-based economy as one of the vital components of modern economies, Dr Letsholathebe said the transformation presented opportunities for scaling up with the current natural and knowledge endowments.

“In addition to the fruits of our investment in education and training, our transformation into a knowledge-based economy requires that we enhance our current proficiencies and build new ones with our current resources,” he said.

Dr Letsholathebe also touched on the SmartBots Strategy aimed at driving digital transformation across the economy, government and society at large in order to transform Botswana into a knowledge-based economy. 

Minister Letsholathebe said  SmartBots would leverage technology and innovation to deliver public services and reform the education system with focus on building the requisite human capital for the envisaged economy. 

“SmartBots recognises that the transformation of the public service sector is critical and in this connection, Botswana has adopted a “whole of government” approach to transforming the public sector in order to accelerate digital connectivity and close the connectivity gap without leaving anyone behind,” he said.

Through the strategy, Botswana sought to improve overall competitiveness, economic diversification and to position itself as Africa’s digital innovation leader, he said. Ends