Botswana’s education system in ICU

A sad reality on the local education system continued to take toll as an overall record of over 30 000 candidates have technically failed the Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) 2024 examinations, with an overall 98% fail rate recorded by the class of 2024 painting bleak future. 

Announcing results last Friday, Minister of Child Welfare and Basic Education Dr Nono Kgafela-Mokoka and the Botswana Examination Council (BEC) executives were at pain to explain the poor performance. 

The poor performance according to experts is indicative of Botswana’s poor declining state of education system as the country envisions to become a knowledge-based economy by 2036, a far-fetched dream. 

Describing the saddening state of education affairs, University of Botswana (UB) academic Professor Richard Tabulawa in his book launched last year titled ‘Globalisation and Education Policy Reform in Botswana’, indicated that education system needs comprehensive reforms. 

He said Botswana’s education system has failed to achieve the objectives of the 1994 Revised National Policy on Education (RNPE), adding that the failure to achieve the RNPE objectives was ‘where the problem of quality and decline in student performance came from. According to Tabulawa, the current curriculum was suffocating and de-skilling teachers while denying pupils access to knowledge and skills deemed important in today’s workplace. 

Prof. Tabulawa said assessment tests done narrowed the curriculum to low order thinking skills, and that the emphasis was on drilling pupils for examinations. 

Teachers 

Publicity Secretary of Botswana Sector of Educators Trade Union (BOSETU) Oreeditse Nyatso said the BGCSE results are bad and they expected if the current thorny issues facing education aren’t addressed. 

Nyatso said there is an urgent need to address issue of teachers’ welfare and conditions of service, adding that teachers are the most undermined in the public service. “Even upcoming comedians are using teachers sad state of affairs to gain traction and popularity,” he said, adding that facilities in schools are not learner friendly as there is shortage of classrooms and textbooks are non-existent. 

According to Nyatso, the classes are a disaster in waiting as many are hazardous to the safety of learners and staff because of malfunctional electricity, rotten ceilings, broken windows and furniture etc. To find solutions to the crisis, Nyatso said there is a need to engage all stakeholders in education sector, buttressing that companies to give learners food hampers would not resuscitate education system. 

“We need holistic approach and look at the policies within an intention to amalgamate or repeal them. We need to be dynamic and systematic and periodically evaluate our policies. We can’t stick and defend a policy that is not assisting the learners and the country. 

He also said there is a need to assign a committed deputy minister specifically for basic education as it is clear that the current minister Dr Kgafela-Mokoka is only interested in child welfare matters. 

Govt 

Dr Kgafela-Mokoka said the new Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) administration is working on strategies that can improve the status of education, highlighting the need to review current policies. 

She said her ministry for the first time will get a voice from the students so as to get feedback on the education that they get to determine if it suits their needs and how best it can be delivered to them etc. 

Dr Kgafela-Mokoka further said the ministry will implement performance management of teachers by developing a systematic process to evaluate and support the teacher professional development that will promote accountability through an appraisal that focuses on improvement through systematic feedback. 

Nyatso said when majority of the current MPs were in opposition, they resonated with BOSETU’s call for revitalizing and revolutionizing education system. 

He said they were in the same accord that the local education is broken and backward hence a need to fully resuscitate it. “What is now frustrating teachers is the minister herself. 

She has been on record regarding her priorities and its very clear that teachers are not a priority at all. We are hopeful that knowledge and commitment from ministers like Hunyepa and Mmolotsi will save basic education,” said Nyatso. 

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