23 Mar 2026

Botswana Open University (BOU) provides accessible and inclusive education that accommodates all potential learners without any limitations to their personal status such as locations and previous academic performance or employment. 

Answering a question in Parliament from Member of Parliament for Maun West, Mr Caterpillar Hikuama, Minister of Higher Education, Mr Prince Maele said BOU currently operated 26 learning centres and 19 examination centres across five regional campuses. 

He added that all the five BOU regional campuses; Gaborone, Maun, Kang, Palapye and Francistown were fully connected to the internet where students were encouraged to physically visit the campuses and had free access to internet. Moreover, he said some BOU students leveraged SmartBots connectivity at various government hotspots to access their learning materials. 

“Furthermore, to enable interactivity, other means of communication are utilised to reach students, for example, bulky SMS where messages are sent to students to draw their attention to certain discussions in the instructional materials,” Mr Maele explained. 

He said WhatsApp capabilities were also used for engaging students and Google Meet to deliver tutorials and run synchronised group discussions. Minister Maele further explained that BOU provided education at junior certificate (JC), Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) and pre-vocational levels using open distance learning methodologies. He also indicated that BOU employed decentralised learner support model to reach even the most marginalised learners. 

“The principle of shared use of resources in public schools facilitates the teaching and learning process through contact tutorial session in collaboration with local communities,” the minister said.

However, he noted that students experienced connectivity challenges from time to time due to both inadequacies of national connectivity grid and individual affordability.  

“It must be noted that prior to COVID-19, whilst course content was availed through the moodle for download, tutorials were offered face to face at the regional campuses and students were expected to attend,” Minister Maele said. 

He further noted that most of BOU tertiary students (60 per cent) were adult individuals who were employed, some of whom had access to internet at their workplaces. The minister added that BOU also fostered inclusivity by profiling its students to identify those with special needs and served them through assistive technologies and other means. 

Parliament also heard that from 2018 to 2025, BOU enrolled 13,139 students for JC and 47,912 for BGCSE, and the minister attributed the decrease in enrolment from 2022 to limited resources for open schooling since the introduction of the Back to School during the BOCODOL era, when funding for it came from composite Ministry of Education, covering both basic and higher education. 

“It is hoped that participation of BOU as a partner in the Bula Buka project will help to inject the required resources and give boost to the enrolment,” the minister said. BOPA