Volume 65 December 2026-January 2026 : Feature

D

uring the colonial era, responsibility for developing education in the by then Bechunaland was left to Batswana merafe and missionaries. But after attaining independence, Botswana showed advancement with regard to the development of education. The commendable job was shown by the mushrooming of schools both government and private tertiary institutions in the country. 

The London Missionary Society came to Botswana in the 19^th Century and was the first group of people to provide formal education. According to the African Human Rights Journals published in 2001, the first school was established by David Livingstone among Bakgatla ba ga Mmanaana in the 1840s. The Roman Catholic Church established St. Joseph`s College in 1928 and ultimately St. Therisa in 1929. In the later years the London Missionary Society (LMS) started other schools among other tribes.

In 1903, the LMS opened Tiger Kloof Institute in neighbouring South Africa and the institution produced notable figures in the history of Botswana such as Sir Ketumile Masire and Dr Gaositwe Chiepe, just to name but a few. Years later, the school was ‘moved` to Botswana and became known as Moeding College in Otse. The Catholic Church also built Maun Secondary School. At that stage there was no education policy to guide the implementation of education

The Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality reports that at independence there were 251 primary schools, nine secondary schools, two primary teacher training colleges and two trade schools and no university. Trade schools that existed at independence are Botswana College of Agriculture and Bakgatla National School in Mochudi in 1923. 

There were only 20 per cent of school age children who were enrolled in primary school, and only eight per cent proceeded to secondary schools. All students were guaranteed 10 years of basic education, leading to a junior certificate qualification, the report notes. The literacy rate also jumped from below 20 per cent at independence to 81 per cent in 2003. The transition rates from primary schools to junior secondary was estimated at 97 per cent in 2008. From junior to senior secondary significant improvements were recorded, with rates of around 30 per cent in the late 1990s rising to 67 per cent in 2008, the report said.

The report says Botswana currently has 32 senior secondary schools, two unified secondary schools and 206 junior secondary schools. In 2006, for instance, Botswana`s primary and secondary Gross Enrolment Ratios (GER) were 113.2 per

By 1986 just over 90 per cent of school age children were in schools and by 1996 this figure had risen to 96 per cent. Investigations have confirmed that in 2002, the gross primary enrollment rate was 103 per cent, and the net primary enrollment rate was 81 per cent. As of 2001, 86 per cent of children who started primary school were likely to reach grade 5.

Inquiries have revealed that in 1977 a commission appointed by the government published a report on educational reform: ‘Education for kagisano` “Presently the medium of instruction in schools is Setswana from Standards one to four and English thereafter. The new policy on education requires that English be used as the medium of instruction from Standard two. The private sector provides education whereby the language of instruction is English, these schools are referred to as “English medium schools.” Children enroll in primary school around the age of six. Primary education ranges from standard one to standard seven.    

Botswana had no university before independence and was later a member of BOLESWA for whom a common university was the only viable option. One however may be interested to know the strenuous struggles the government encountered towards achieving the current education which has been structured free. The Southern Africa Regional Universities Association report has revealed that in 2005-6, UB had 15 710 students with 12 602 studying full-time. Citizens were 14 942 with 136 students being from SADC countries and 632 students from other international countries

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Director of Public Affairs, Mhitshana Reetsang says after years of battling to provide free education, the government had a major campaign the University of Botswana Campus Appeal (BUCA), known as one man one beast (Motho le Motho kgomo). This was the best fundraising model that was ever used in Botswana that led to the establishment of UB, Reetsang has said.

UB boasts of eight undergraduate faculties, the newest being the Faculty of Medicine and a Graduate School and the facilities associated with UB are of world class standards, including the best equipped library, an Olympic size swimming pool and the first faculty of Medicine which began its intake in 2009 with 36 students, Reetsang noted. The Tertiary Education Council (TEC) was formed to contribute to the realisation of Vision 2016 pillar by making tertiary education to be of good quality. 

The Tertiary Education Policy of 2008 says that there has been progress since independence with 31 129 enrolled in registered tertiary education institutions within Botswana by 2007/8. The policy states that there was a significant growth with gross enrolment ratio of 11.4 per cent (18-24 years). In addition 11 095 new outbound students were sponsored by the government to study in tertiary institutions outside the country over the period 2003/4–2007/8, the policy says.

Tertiary Education Funding`s principal publicity officer, Mothusi Ntikile said in an interview that around 2000 onwards the Ministry of Education and Skills and Development (MOESD) was sending between 200 and 300 students to the UK, Australia, Caribbean Islands and to other countries for courses that could not be offered locally, particularly health science and engineering courses.

He could only approximate figures at around P3 million annually being the amount Botswana spent since it started sending students abroad. This number later increased with the abolishment of Tirelo Sechaba which created two groups of students who were ready for tertiary institutions in 2001, he said. Ntikile noted that the government recruited some international institutions to open up campuses in the country to cut the costs of maintaining students to foreign lands. 

That is when we saw the emergence of local private institutions such as Limkokwing, NIIT (Botho University) ABM, GIPS and many others. He, however, noted that the government still sends students abroad for courses that are not offered locally to meet the economic needs of the country as determined by The Human Resource Development Council (HRDC).

The Ministry of Education and Skills Development public relations officer, Silas Sehularo said in 1965 the budget for education stood at P1 626 891 while currently the budget was at P10. 6 billion annually. Sehularo said the government still employs expatriate teachers where it cannot attract locals in business and science subjects. He says electricity has affected the development of education in Botswana since electricity was required to operate learning materials, Internet for e-learning and machinery for practical subjects.ENDS

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