18 Feb 2024

 Minister of Education and Skills Development, Dr Douglas Letsholathebe agrees with the notion by the United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Mr Claver Gatete to upscale investments in Africa’s education system.

He told BOPA on the sidelines of the ongoing AU summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia that the sector continued to enjoy a lion’s share of the total budget.

During this year’s budget speech, Minister of Finance, Ms Peggy Serame allotted P28.6bn towards Education and Human Capital Development and underscored that ‘government recognises the transformational potential of investing in a knowledge-based economy, where the creation and application of knowledge become central to economic growth’.

Her words resonate with Mr Gatete, who relayed during the 44^th Ordinary session of the Executive Council in Addis Ababa on February 14-15 that investing in the education system by AU member states would help sustain industrialisation, bolster economic growth and help create jobs and wealth for the Africans.

“To make the African Continental Free Trade Area work, we need a skills revolution underpinned by science, technology, engineering and innovation,” Mr Gatete had said in his deliberation.

Over P1.02 billion of Botswana’s developmental budget has also been proposed for research and development this financial year, which is a significant increase of P752.2 milion from the 2022/2023 budget allocation.

Dr Letsholathebe said Botswana had made a lot of progress in educating an African fit for the 21^st century.

Investing in the education system, he agreed would play a key role in ensuring Botswana and Africa achieved the aspirations of economic growth and job creation.

It was important, he said therefore, that portfolio ministers of Education met and deliberated on matters affecting education to push towards the idea to give Africans relevant education that could help African children face contemporary challenges and thrive.

“In Botswana, we have made a lot of progress. 

There have been challenges of lack of stationery and furniture here and there, but this is something that we intend to resolve. 

As one of the few ministries that are given a lion’s share of the national budget, we are obligated to account to the nation,” said Dr Letsholathebe.

He was happy that a substantial number of schools in Botswana had already been digitally connected via SmartBots and given gadgets, something he stated would go a long way in improving and enhancing productivity within the education space. ENDS