1. It is my pleasure to address this august international conference, the 48th Distance Education Association of Southern Africa Conference (DEASA), jointly hosted by Botswana College of Distance and Open Learning (BOCODOL), the University of Botswana (UB), and the division of Out of School Education and Training (OSET). ??
2. It is a measure of noble note that DEASA is instrumental in bringing together providers of education and training, industry and Governments to dialogue on issues of collaboration between these stakeholders in matters affecting the human resource development within the SADC Region. Your chosen conference theme: “Strengthening Collaboration in Open and Distance Learning for Sustainable Economic Development in the SADC Region” is both commendable and timely, considering the current concerns of quality, relevance and responsiveness of education and training to the needs of our respective economies.┬á The theme is also consistent with the ideals of SADC, all of which revolve around the need for Member Countries to work in unison towards Regional integration.┬á ??
3. To demonstrate its unequivocal commitment to the development of ODL using collaborative mechanisms across the SADC Region, Botswana Government has agreed to house the SADC Centre for Distance Education (SADC – CDE) at BOCODOL and is part-financing it with the generous support of the Commonwealth of Learning. The undertaking by Botswana was driven by the desire to see ODL capacity building, which is the core mandate of the Centre, given urgent attention across the Region.??
4. I wish to observe, ab initio, that the Government of Botswana is guided, inter alia, by the view that to achieve sustainable and diversified development, the following critical factors deserve attention: ?* Availability of high quality human resources; ?* Intensification of research and development; and ?* Enhancement of global competitiveness. ??Hence, there is need to increase the supply of a strong, competitive and productive human resource base to underpin sustainable development. Your efforts, through DEASA, I am reliably informed, consciously focus on the cultivation of these virtues.??
5. The significance of open and distance learning (ODL) in driving the agenda of a competitive and skilled cadre is no longer in doubt. Concrete evidence the world over, shows that ODL has the enhanced potential to substantially increase participation in education, training and skills development. ??
6. SADC is unanimous on the need for increased enrolment at secondary education levels. Similarly, countries need to increase participation of their citizenry in tertiary education. Such calculated overtures help to achieve the desire to become a knowledge driven Regional block. ??
7. The initiatives by DEASA to congregate like-minds; and the initiatives by individual participants through the variegated conference papers to be shared in the following two days, should motivate purposeful action in the aftermath of the conference. I particularly hope that a positive outcome of this conference, namely, the acquired knowledge and wisdom should and will impel individual institutions to work towards increasing enrolments in vocational training, re-engineering approaches to professional and management in-service training, strengthening post-literacy and extension programmes and emphasising the importance of lifelong learning, achievable through ODL praxis.
??8. If I may, I now share statistics from the Botswana experience with the hope that more effort from ODL practitioners will further improve the record.
9. At the inception of the National Literacy Programme in 1981, the estimated literacy rate was 40% of the population. A national literacy survey was conducted in 1993, which showed an improvement from 40% to 69%. The 2001 national literacy survey showed a further improvement to 81%. Another survey is planned for 2013 that hopefully, will reflect a much higher literacy rate.??
10. This significant progress is attributable to out of school education programmes through BOCODOL and OSET, which, continue to provide opportunities for learners who could for various reasons not access education through the conventional system. OSET enrolled about 8,541 learners during the first half of the current National Development Plan (between 2009 and 2012), while BOCODOL continued to graduate an average of 2,500 junior and senior secondary students annually during the same period.  ??
11. ODL has also made a significant contribution to increased enrolment at tertiary education level, where the proportion of students accessing tertiary education through it has gradually increased from 1.7% in 2007/8 to 4.3% in 2010/11. The referred increase is reflective of the potential that ODL holds for human resources development.??
12. Open and distance learning in the context of Botswana realized its definitive growth following the adoption of the 1994 Revised National Policy on Education, the recommendations of which had been informed by the Report of the National Commission on Education in 1993 (Kedikilwe Report). The Commission recommended amongst others, that ODL should be given prominence at various levels of the Botswana education system and that a new institution dedicated to the development and provision of open and distance learning should be established. Consequently, BOCODOL was instituted through an Act of Parliament in 1998. I hope the good will not be interred before our bones.??
13. The brief background about ODL in Botswana has parallels in your respective countries. As I was sharing the Botswana experience, you, no doubt, were playing out in your minds, the scenarios in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Namibia, Malawi, to name but a few countries of our SADC fraternity.??
14. Botswana Government is happy with the contribution of ODL to the development of the country. We have seen increased literacy levels and overall basic education, which are paramount in the development of personal life-skills needed to tackle challenges such as unemployment, domestic violence and abuse, HIV/AIDS etc. More Batswana benefit from programmes offered through ODL, ranging from certificate to degree level. This is why the Government has now gone further to legislate the establishment of a university dedicated to the provision of ODL. Having made a landmark on the provision of open and distance learning at secondary and tertiary levels, BOCODOL has become the logical choice of the College that should transform into the envisaged Open University for Botswana. I hope the next occasion you come to Botswana for another DEASA activity, the Botswana Open University as an offshoot of BOCODOL, will be firmly in place. ??
15. The new institution will join established counterparts such as the Zambia Open University, the Zimbabwe Open University, the Open University of Tanzania, Mauritius Open University and University of South Africa. I wish to acknowledge the contribution by DEASA in rendering the vision of the envisaged new university a reality. This has been made possible through collaborative practices among institutions in a variety of ways. Zimbabwe Open University, a member of DEASA, has over the past few years assisted BOCODOL to institutionalise tertiary education systems in readiness for the transformation alluded to.??
16. Director of Ceremonies, though considerable progress has been made in the provision of education and training in Botswana, the quality and relevance of education services admittedly run short of meeting the socio-economic requirements of the country. It has been noted internally that a major constraint in employing Batswana centres on lack of industry relevant skills, and general mismatch between training and the skills required by the economy. ??
17. The Nation remains convinced that we could not expeditiously realise the ideals of the National Vision 2016 and Millennium Development Goals without facilitating institutionalisation of Agencies like the SADC-CDE to promote harmony and SADC wide improvement in the provision of services geared at integration of the Region. ??
18. As I conclude, I postulate the need to align, for concatenative effect, the offerings in the ODL institutions to the human resources needs of the SADC region. In Botswana, the Human Resources Development Council (HRDC) has been created to superintend human resources needs. The Council in conjunction with the Botswana Qualifications Authority (BQA), it is hoped, will influence ODL provision in alignment and quality of its offerings. Commendable it is that at SADC level, we are working against time to introduce a Regional Qualifications Framework whose purpose, among others, is to harmonise curriculum standards and qualifications. It would thus be critical for all ODL institutions to be cognizant of this development and align their programming accordingly. Doing so would work against current concerns over parity of educational standards between our countries. 
??19. Director of Ceremonies may I finally and once again express my thanks to your Association for inviting me to officiate at this conference. Even as I have had to resign my position as Minister of Education in one fateful year, the education agenda has a nostalgic ring and niche in my philosophy of life.  It is now my pleasure to declare the 48th DEASA Conference and Annual General Meeting officially open.  I thank you. Pula!
