22 Oct 2025

In its commitment to enhance skills and drive the general education sector in the country, government has modernised the curriculum and assessment through the General Curriculum and Assessment Framework (GECAF).

Presenting the education chapter in the draft National Development Plan 12 (NDP 12) on Tuesday, the Minister of Child Welfare and Basic Education, Ms Nono Kgafela-Mokoka said modernisation of the curriculum entailed the adoption of a global competitive value based and developmental education system premised on Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts and Mathematics (STEAM).

She said the streamlined integration of the STEAM driven education transformation fostered a lifelong learning continuum that begins in day care centres and progresses seamlessly through early learning to primary and secondary education.

“The STEAM driven GECAF under Botswana Education Transformative Framework, sets out a strategic vision to align education with the demands of the 21st Century to produce a global competitive knowledge worker,” she said.

Ms Kgafela-Mokoka indicated that GECAF had five interconnected and integrated pedagogical levels focusing on the holistic development of learners and leveraging on STEAM education, early childhood education, primary education, secondary education, out of school education and special needs education.

The pedagogical driving platforms of this reform, she said was centered on the use of digitalisation, e-learning, coding and robotics as well as teacher empowerment. In alignment with the Botswana Economic Transformation Programme’s sector-based approach, sector-specific human resource development, the  Minister stated that plans would be created to address both current and future skills needed across the identified prioritised sectors.

“This effort will also involve skills profiling through the development of a national skills and competency framework which will enable on-going identification of the skills and competencies required,” she said.

Further, she said the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) would be transformed to enhance skills development through embedding work-integrated learning into TVET curricula.

The initiative, she said would bridge the gap between theory and practice, reduce youth unemployment, and ensure a steady pipeline of skilled graduates who were work-ready and adaptable to Botswana’s evolving economic sectors including mining, tourism, manufacturing, ICT and the green economy. 

Moreover, the Minister emphasised government commitment to modernise tertiary education training by upgrading the curriculum from diploma to degree level thus aligning it with current industry and regional standards to improve graduate outcomes.

She noted that government would also strengthen TVET internships and work placement programmes as a critical pathway for enhancing youth employability and aligning skills with labour market demands.

The strategy, she said would prioritise structured partnerships between TVET institutions, industry and government to ensure that learners gain practical and hands-on experience in real workplace settings.

“A coordinated national framework will be developed to standardise internship quality, improve monitoring and mentorship and incentivise industry participation through recognition schemes and possible fiscal support,” she said.

Minister Kgafela-Mokoka stated that government would further implement an initiative aimed at giving learners that do not proceed to senior secondary and tertiary institutions access to educational opportunities through the Out of School Education and Training (OSET) in an effort empower them academically and help them acquire technical skills they could use in the job market. BOPA