10 Nov 2025

The Ministry of Tertiary Education is steadfast in its endeavour to provide quality, relevant and accessible education that supports Botswana’s transition to a knowledge driven and diversified economy.

To achieve the aforesaid dream, the Ministry has proposed the development expenditure amounting to over P8.6 billion for programmes and projects aligned to the National Development Plan 12 (NDP 12) priorities.

Minister Prince Maele said it should also be noted that a total of P27 million was for the on-going projects while P8.5 billion was for new programmes and projects.

Making the proposal in Parliament on Thursday, Mr Maele said the ministry’s focus was to increase national pass rates, access and progression, institutional quality and youth productivity.

He said the proposal was structured around five key programmes, each designed to strengthen the higher and tertiary education sector and enhance its contribution to national development.

He said the largest allocation was proposed for Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) development, which government has identified as a top priority in education.

“An amount of P4.2 billion is requested for this programme, which is about 49.7 per cent of the Ministry's total allocation,” he said.

He noted that the objective of the programme was to expand and complete Rapid Skills Development Centres around the country and support the implementation of TVET transformation clusters.

He cited that the idea was also to provide modern furniture and equipment to ensure that learners were trained using up-to-date technologies and methods.

The transformation, he said would empower young Batswana with practical, industry relevant skills, thereby supporting national efforts to promote industrialisation and employment creation.

Minister Maele said the second largest share was for tertiary education facilities programme with an allocation of P3 billion or about 35 per cent of total allocation.

“This programme seeks to expand and improve infrastructure at colleges of education, institutes of health sciences, brigades and technical colleges. The focus will be on maintenance, expansion and equipping of these institutions in order to create a conducive learning environment that can accommodate the growing number of students,” he said.

He highlighted that investing in tertiary infrastructure was essential for ensuring that future teachers, nurses and other professionals were trained in environments that met both national and international standards.

Mr Minister Maele noted that the third largest share was allocation of P1.1 billion or about 13 per cent of total allocation toward public universities infrastructure.

These investments, he said would enhance teaching, learning and research as well as enable institutions to produce graduates who were competitive both locally and globally.

Regarding the ministry computerisation programme, Minister Maele stated that a total of P141 million or about 1.6 per cent was allocated toward the project.

He said the funds would support completion of the Labour Market Information System, which would provide reliable data on labour market trends and the development of Enterprise Resource Systems for the Rapid Skills Development Centres formerly Construction Industry Trust Fund and Botswana Accountancy College. ENDS