22 Nov 2023

Improved working conditions and better regulation of teaching profession is of utmost importance, Kgosi Kgari III of Bakwena said.

Officiating at the BOSETU cultural day organized by Kweneng region on July 18 at Fun Farm, Kgosi Kgari said educational policies must be continuously reviewed to keep abreast with the ever evolving profession.

Kgosi Kgari said it was important to review and amend laws and policies time and again to allow the teaching profession to evolve and be at par with modern times.

He said teaching should be given the dignity and respect it deserved so that in turn teachers could produce quality individuals who would then be leaders of Botswana in future.  

Before that could happen, he said, it was important that the education sector be improved and teachers’ concerns addressed so that the teaching fraternity could grow to be a desirable profession.

Kgosi Kgari also implored teachers to introspect and be exemplary in the way they handled their matters to give dignity to their profession.

To improve the education system, he said, it was important that decision makers recognize support for teachers as that would result in teachers loving their profession and not compromising it.

Therefore, he said, resourcing teachers and giving them enough facilities as well as improving their working conditions was one way of addressing the matter.

Mr Mogomotsi Motshegwa, the president of BOSETU, said the day promoted the revamping of the teachers’ welfare and integrity. The day was also appropriate in that teachers’ welfare and recognition by government as it was at its lowest.

Mr Motshegwe likened the teaching cadre to that of nurses saying most employees in these two professions had stagnated at salary scale C1.  

He said slow progression demotivated teachers but indicated that trade unions together with the employer had their faith on PEMANDU which introduced a new fan-shaped reward system.

He however expressed concern that while trade unions and the employer were still at the negotiating table over this new model, the Directorate of Public  Service Management (DPSM) sidelined them when they recently held consultations with public employees on some of the pertinent issues which were on the table.  

Mr Motshegwa said PEMANDU was supposed to be implemented on April 1, this year.

For his part, BOSETU Deputy Secretary General, Mr Botshelo Maruatona, outlined several issues concerning teachers including the need for better salaries and benefits for teachers.  

He said the teaching fraternity was left behind when other ministries implemented the court order on the judgment of the multi-titled salary scales between the employer and employees of the Ministry of Agriculture.  

Mr Maruatona said they were yet to engage the employer on this matter.  

He also said teachers were sidelined on many other issues among them poor working conditions, shortage of resources and facilities and lack of recognition and support for teachers.

He said his organization has been working to address these issues through collective bargaining and lobbying.  ends