Botswana’s education system is fundamentally flawed and defective.
It has to be changed. What is needed is a radical overhaul.
That change has to be from root to branch.
One does not have not to do any research to discern a deterioration of school results.
Schools themselves are not conducive places of learning.
Many key infrastructures in schools are broken.
These would include science laboratories and libraries.
Botswana’s education system emphasizes rote learning and memorising.
Schools have become cramming industries.
Creativity is not encouraged.
There is very little art in it.
And now sports too is facing extinction in our schools.
When faced with solving real life issues the system is at best abstract and at worst helpless.
This is principally because the curriculum has itself become archaic.
Even then, everyone would agree that Botswana’s education is on the decline. In fact it has been on a free fall for a while now.
But even before the decline started, there was a near consensus that in so far as our education concentrated on rote learning then it was misappropriate.
It did not meet the industry requirements.
From the beginning Botswana’s education was predicated on moulding future civil servants.
Maybe that made sense pre and immediate post-independence because creating the public service was the most pertinent priority.
Students who are often said to be the best are those who are able to cram into their heads what will be in their examination papers.
In other words our education system does not prepare students to face the realities of life.
Our education system has put certificates ahead of skills.
Students were often encouraged to compete and mindlessly internalize tables, and names of places that had no bearing on what they would be doing in future after they had left academic halls.
This is how it has been – from primary to tertiary levels.
From primary school onwards, children in Botswana have been bombarded with abstract and ultimately mindless and useless theories.
It has not mattered to education policy planners that these theories are often forgotten once a student completes their education simply because the theories have nothing to do with the practicalities of work or even life itself.
The best education in life is that which equips the learners with real life skills.
We need our education to put more emphasis on resolving practical problems we meet in our daily lives.
We need our education system to put emphasis on scientific research.
We need our education system to put emphasis on innovation.
Students at the universities should concentrate on issues geared towards uplifting the lives of those who have not been lucky enough to go to university.
Students at BIUST (Botswana International University of Science and Technology) for example should pay attention to the needs of rural communities around their campus and bring science and engineering solutions to them.
Of course teacher qualifications are also a problem. But then they too are a result of the same defective education system.
