22 Oct 2025

Government will implement a two-year reception class programme across public schools in an effort to strengthen the foundation of quality education.

An additional year will be introduced as an add-on to the ongoing one-year reception class programme, which started in 2014.

The two-year reception class programme will be introduced in schools with available space and where necessary, through alternative arrangements with the help of the public private partnership model.

Presenting the education sector of the draft National Development Plan 12 (NDP 12), Minister of Child Welfare and Basic Education, Ms Nono Kgafela-Mokoka said it was important to note that access to early childhood education was also being expanded through private providers and civil society initiatives to enhance learner readiness.

“The Ministry of Child Welfare and Basic Education has commenced data collection to assess school readiness for the inclusion of the second year of pre-primary education, as recommended by the Revised National Policy on Education (RNPE),” she said. She stated that the “ True North” for the education sector under NDP 12 would be to cultivate globally competitive and innovative human capital by providing an inclusive, high-quality, and future-ready education system.

To drive this true north, Ms Kgafela-Mokoka highlighted that focus would be on increasing national pass rates, access and progression, institutional quality and youth productivity.

Guided by the principle of “education for all,” she highlighted that Botswana continued to focus on improving quality, accessibility and inclusivity in its schools and institutions.

 She said the education system was structured to support learners from primary school through secondary and tertiary levels, with a strong emphasis on literacy, numeracy and skills for the modern workforce.

Minister Kgafela-Mokoka said during the National Development Plan 11 and the Transitional National Development Plan II period, the education sector exhibited a mixed performance across key indicators, including enrolment, pass rates, transition rates and youth engagement.

“Primary education achieved near-universal access, with net enrolment rates reaching approximately 98 per cent.

“However, this strong performance was not mirrored at the secondary level, where net enrolment dropped to about 62–67 per cent, and gross enrolment hovered around 70–72 per cent,” she said.

She noted that the transition rate from junior to senior secondary stood at 59.6 per cent, revealing a significant drop-off in student progression.

In terms of learning outcomes during the plan period, Ms Kgafela- Mokoka indicated that the Primary Leaving School Examination recorded an average national assessment pass rate of 73.4 per cent while the Junior Certificate Examination (JCE) recorded 36 per cent against 60 per cent target and the Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) realised 22 per cent against 60 per cent target for the financial year 2022/2023. BOPA