23 Mar 2014

The Department of Curriculum and Evaluation is introducing a revised Botswana Senior Secondary School Education blueprint, a new curriculum that promises positive educational prospects.

The curriculum blueprint was illuminated by the department’s officials to the Central District Council on Monday, March 15.

Mr Ndoudo Koolese, the director, said the blueprint was a product of a wide and intensive consultation with all stakeholders, as well as benchmarking with Singapore, Britain, Mauritius and South Africa.

Mr Koolese said as a result of the consultation and benchmarking, his department was optimistic that the new curriculum, whose philosophy was derived from Vision 2016, the National Policy on Education, commonly referred to as the Kedikilwe Report and another document known as Education for All, would prosper.

He said all students, regardless of their career paths, would progress to tertiary institutions of learning. He said the new curriculum would usher in an education for sustainable development, that is the kind of education that would undergird economic transformations.

Countries such as Singapore and South Korea, who had scarce resources, attained economic development because they invested heavily in human resource development.

“We are saying yes indeed this country should invest in human resource for us to have sustainable development education that will transform our economy and society,” he said. “Government has recently established the Human Resources Development Council, which has profiled the competency that this economy needs.”

The new curriculum is expected to enhance democracy, inclusive education and lifelong learning to accommodate all young people irrespective of their background and ability. “We want to develop a society that will have interest in formal, informal and non-formal education,” he added.

“The system must take into consideration the interest and ability of the student, if one is not gifted academically the system must allow them to go into fields such as carpentry and construction after completing Form 3.” ENDS