Government-sponsored tertiary education enrolment and participation is set for a further decline as a result of limited governmental financial resources for sponsorship. The Telegraph has turned up information which suggests that government is set to drastically reduce the amount spent on tertiary education sponsorship by 27%.
A few months ago, President Dr. Ian Khama noted that there has been a decline of 19% in tertiary sponsorship for the past two financial years (2014/2015 and 2015/2016), which has resulted in government considering cost sharing as an alternative.
“Given the exponential growth in demand for tertiary education, government is therefore exploring options for sustainable funding including cost-sharing,” said President Khama at the time.
Whilst government is reported to have authorised a total amount of P 3.3 billion in the 2016/17 financial year, fresh reports have surfaced that the figure is highly likely to be reduced to P2.4 billion when finance minister, Kenneth Matambo, presents his budget on Monday 6th.
The financial crisis also affected one of Botswana’s top university, University of Botswana, which requested P1 billion for operational expenses only to be given close to P700 million. The institution also made headlines towards the end of the year last year when over 1,500 beginning students were left in the lurch as a result of lack of funds.
Amongst other things, the budget for temporary teachers has recorded a jump from P80,8 million to P155,8 million and special needs schools have also seen an increase in funding.
