BCP 2014 Manifesto Draft Final

4. Ensuring an Educated
and Skilled Batswana
4.1 Situational analysis
The education system is in a state of crisis. In the past five years alone, students’
performance in public schools has been declining. The infrastructure in most
schools is in a state of disrepair and shortage of books and teaching materials is
common. A number of schools are operating without science laboratories. The
class size in most schools is not conducive for effective learning.
Teacher morale is low on account of poor working conditions that remain unattended
after many years. These range from lack of accommodation and poor remuneration
to poor opportunities for professional and self-development. Relations between the
Ministry of Education and teacher organizations are acrimonious and not conducive
for the development of the education sector. Graduates of tertiary institutions
remain largely unemployed after graduation.
4.2 Our Social Contract on Education and Life Long Learning
The BCP seeks to transform Botswana into a truly educated and informed nation by
giving all its citizenry quality education relevant to the real world of work, informed
by contemporary research and leveraging on science and technology. To ensure
that these objectives are attained, the education ministries will be segmented into
Ministry of Basic Education and Ministry of Higher Education. The BCP shall:
Emphasise Access, Retention and Completion by;
• Redefining basic education to mean early childhood, primary, junior and senior
secondary schools.
• Providing free and compulsory basic education.
• Ensuring that learners with special needs have access to educational opportunities;
• Providing all schools with Information and Communication Technology
infrastructure as a tool to facilitate learning.
Promote Lifelong Learning: To ensure that Batswana participate actively in the
global economy through continuous adaptation to changing opportunities and
labour market demands, we will transform Batswana into lifelong learners by:
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BCP 2014-2019 MANIFESTO