There’s something inherently wrong with Botswana’s education system.
It is rotten to the core. And only a transformation will turn it around.
The biggest trouble with the current experts in education is that they believe throwing money at the problem will bring about results.
That is not the case. Botswana needs much more than money.
Every day that passes registers a further deterioration or even degeneration.
As a country we have over time become numb to the ever worsening school results.
Bad as they are, those results have long ceased to shock.
The school results are only a symptom of a deeper decay and malaise. Concentrating on turning the school result around is like climbing a tree from the top.
Too many things at the bottom need to change.
It has to be a wholesale transformation.
Botswana needs to approach the transformation with an open mind. It is only then that the country will be able to fully embrace new models that are needed for that transformation to happen but also for it to fully address the pressing needs of today’s modern economy that is dynamic and competitive.
We owe a debt of deep honesty to ourselves to accept that our education model has run its course.
It was designed for a world long gone by. And is thus not fit for purpose today.
Our education needs to be a mirror of the fast changing marketplace.
The trouble with Botswana education today is that it does not benefit even those children earning it.
Thus the billions spent annually on education end up going to waste.
And that is before we note the fact that it is not equitable because too many children especially in the impoverished areas of the west are excluded from this education.
Deliberate steps need to be taken to make education in Botswana much more equitable.
Much of the problems in Botswana education system predate the covid-19 pandemic. But the pandemic has made the situation worse.
The exttlent to which the system survives and adapts in the new world will heavily be reliant on how relevant it is to the new world.
We are still a world away as a country. And our education framework is third world.
But we should not lose heart. A lot depends on us doing something. A successful transformation will usher a new Botswana.
