05 Mar 2014

Parliament has been informed that progress is being made in the back-to-school programme with 67 526 applications registered in 2012.

Answering a question from MP for Gaborone West South, Mr Botsalo Ntuane, the Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development Mr Patrick Masimolole said out of the 67 526 applicants, 33 044 re-entrants had been absorbed exceeding the annual target of 20 000.

Mr Masimolole said 101 applicants from the Gaborone South West constituency were absorbed in the Back to School programme, three in formal primary school, eight into junior secondary school, 22 in senior secondary while 68 were absorbed by brigades and technical colleges.

In addition, he said, 712 applicants who could not be absorbed at the different levels due to age limit were absorbed by BOCODOL. Mr Masimolole further said the programme was achieving its intended goals as a high proportion of the 49 per cent of those applied were absorbed at different levels of the education system.

He said the first enrolment of the programme into the formal system was in 2013 and the ministry was expecting the first batch of graduates in 2014. “A total of 4055 back-to-school candidates sat for the 2013 BGCSE examinations through BOCODOL,” he said.

He further said the methodology used to enable the recipients to access lecturers were formal classroom as per the formal education structures at primary and secondary schools, BOCODOL study centres, remedial classes, brigades, technical colleges and other tertiary education institutions.

MP Ntuane had asked the minister the number of pupils that had been enrolled in the back-to-school programme since its roll out and also wanted to know the total number that has been absorbed and benefited from the programme that are resident in his constituency.

He also wanted to know whether the programme was achieving the desired goals and the number that have so far graduated and the methodology used to enable recipients to access lectures and the institutions tasked with implementation of the programme. ends