According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the current levels of teacher salary and incentives in Botswana may be too low to recruit and retain high-quality candidates in the teaching profession. This comes as Botswana commemorated World Teachers’ Day yesterday (5 October 2024).In their 2024 report titled: Global Report on Teachers addressing teacher shortages and transforming the profession, UNESCO notes that inability to retain skilled educators presents enormous difficulties to educational quality and equity in the country.Read more at: www.sundaystandard.info/low-pay-most-common-reason-for-teacher-attrition-unesco/
A report by the African Centre for Governance Pre-Election Assessment Mission (ACG PAM) suggests that President Mokgweetsi Masisi’s delay in announcing election dates created uncertainty for the Independent Electoral Commission.The ACG PAM which was invited was invited by the Botswana Government to conduct an assessment of the country’s preparedness ahead of the 2024 general elections, states in its report that, “It is obvious that the delay in the announcement of election dates by the President had created uncertainty for the Commission,”Read more at: www.sundaystandard.info/masisis-delay-in-announcing-election-date-unnerved-the-iec-report/
For years, year after year, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank (Bretton Woods institutions) have raised alarm about Botswana’s ever ballooning wage bill. Resultantly, they have been calling on the government to downsize its public sector in order to deflate what they see as a bloated and unsustainable wage bill. For the first time ever, the Bretton Woods may have leverage over the government. The latter is a direct result of a historically adverse fiscal situation which, in part, is a result of opportunistic election-year politics. The editorial commentary of Economic Review, a quarterly publication written by Sethunya Kegakgametse and Keith Jeffries, makes about the same point.Read more at: www.sundaystandard.info/imf-world-bank-have-botswana-right-where-they-need-it/