Education, Training and Human Resource Development

The UDC will affirm access to quality relevant education as a fundamental human right for all citizens and  commit the state, as a duty bearer, to the fulfilment of this right for every child and every citizen. Consistent  with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4, we will “…ensure inclusive and equitable quality education  

and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” 

The Current Reality

Botswana has had the resources to be well on the path to being ready for the fourth the 4IR but has lacked the leadership and foresight to prepare for it. Consequently, our education system is not aligned to the demands of the 4IR.  Less endowed countries like Mauritius and Rwanda are well on course towards preparing for the 4IR. Singapore, which got independence in 1965 as a least developed country  with virtually no resources to speak of but its people, is today, the world’s leader in 4IR readiness, thanks to effective investment in education and the development of its human capital. 

The UDC Promise

It is not too late for Botswana to get onto the path to the 4IR, but it will require complete transformation of the education system and the government’s attitude towards education. The UDC thus promises Batswana a revolutionary transformation of Botswana’s entire education and training system to ensure alignment with the current and future socio-economic needs of Botswana and learners rights to optimal development and dignity.

1. Training and Youth  Development  

The world is changing rapidly and radically. To prepare our children and young people for the 4IR, our  education system should shift decisively towards the skills of the future. A UDC government will: 

Increase resourcing and financing for education and training. The UDC will increase funding for education and training to accommodate the demands of 4IR learning for all Botswana’s children from pre-school to the doctoral level. This will require a judicious mix of education financing strategies, including public funding, private funding and sponsorship grants from corporations and private foundations. A UDC government will facilitate the formation of strong partnerships with industry to help finance education and research. 

Equip schools, from primary to secondary with state of the art infrastructure and equipment and avail  tablets to all learners from the primary to the tertiary levels of education, and upgrade teacher skills as appropriate.  

Increase funding for physical and occupation therapy in schools.

2. Reorienting Education Towards the Skills of the Future 

As we demonstrated in the section on the economy, the skills needs of the future world of work are evolving  rapidly. Demand is moving decisively in favor of soft skills such as creativity, innovation, adaptability,  problem solving, people skills and communication. Technical skills are still important but are no longer sufficient on their own. These changes require wholesale changes to traditional education systems such as ours, from headquarters, to infrastructure to school management to the skills of educators (teachers and support Personnel. The UDC proposes four changes that it considers the game changers. 

We will: 

Initiate change management for the entire public education system: We will undertake a comprehensive review of the education and skills development system to determine the gap between the requirements for accelerated transition to 4IR education and where we are, and what we need to do to get have 4IR  education. 

Review and overhaul school curricula: We will initiate a comprehensive review of curricula, from the  primary to the tertiary level, benchmark against the best systems in the world and reorient our education.  The curricular will shift decisively in the direction of subjects that support innovation and creativity, i.e.,  

Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM). 

Introduce state of the art technology in schools: We equip classrooms, from the primary to the tertiary level, with the technology necessary to give our children the type of education they need to hold their own against the best anywhere in the world and secure Botswana’s future prosperity. We will also give learners tablets from the primary to the secondary level.  

Introduce a system-wide continuous professional and leadership development program to equip the system to deliver: From headquarters to the schools, educators (instructors and support personnel)  will have to be re-skilled to align their competencies with new curricula and the new learning environment.  

Concomitantly, we will develop clear and rewarding career paths for educators to allow them to grow and  realize their career and remuneration aspirations within teaching.  

Decentralize the management of schools to districts and schools: District education offices will be given more powers to manage education at the district level, including authority to plan and budget. Similarly, school heads will have more authority and control over their budgets and other resources. This approach allows for more enterprising and adaptive management of schools. 

4. Introduce Legislation to make Education free and Compulsory from Preschool to Senior Secondary  

Until they are old enough to decide for themselves, a UDC government will mandate, by law that all school age children be in school. To support compliance with this law we will introduce mother tongue as a medium of instruction from early childhood in relevant localities. 

Equip teachers and schools with adequate capacity to enable them to identify and meet the diverse  

needs of learners. Pursuant to this goal, we will: 

Reduce the teacher-learner ratio to a maximum of 1:25 and further introduce teacher assistants in all  

classes for improved attention and manageable workloads. These changes will lead to better learning  

outcomes. 

Increase system capacity to adequately meet the needs of children with special needs, e.g. those with  

defects in speech, hearing, sight etc. 

Offer permanent employment, subject to satisfactory performance, to all qualified teachers employed on  

temporary contracts who have worked for than 12 months or more. 

Provide free sanitary pads.

5. Tertiary Education - Strengthen Collaborative Partnerships in Higher Educational and Research Development 

The UDC will support tertiary education to ensure that it takes the lead in producing relevant skills for the  

market, now and in the future, and in supporting innovation and policy development for the 4IR. To these  

ends, a UDC government will:  

Establish a Botswana Research Council (BRC) to: Review and consolidate existing capacity for research  

and development; Establish a sustainable innovation, research and development strategy and funding;  

• Broker partnerships between universities, research institutions and industry, government and  

community organizations to promote academic and applied research in all our institutions of learning  

from secondary school to universities. 

• Set-up a first rate knowledge management system to strengthen both the creation of knowledge and  

its application to solve society’s problems and establish Botswana as a center of research excellence  

in some of the key sectors as identified by local and international university partnerships, the private  

sector and the government through collaborative strategic initiatives. This will include the Research  

and Development Program for Diversification and Futurology studies. 

• Mobilize resources, from the government and external sources, to fund research, including support  

programs to develop and commoditize indigenous foods and medicines, mineral processing, solar  

technology, local medicines and establishing indigenous niches that can catapult Botswana’s exports  

in foods, medicines and other locally derived products/services.

Support the development and innovation oriented works of the Botswana International University  

of Science and Technology (BIUST), University of Botswana (UB), the National Food Technology Centre  

(NAFTEC), Botswana Vaccine Institute (BVI), Botswana Technology and Rural Innovation (BTRI), BUAN and  

other centers of excellence in the public and private sectors. 

6. Restoring the Dignity of Teachers and Teaching  

The UDC will: 

Introduce a teaching council to advocate for and support the growth and development of the teaching  

profession and educators. 

Introduce incentives for teachers in remote areas and offer boarding facilities as a way of attracting them  

to teach in such conditions and for retention purposes.  

Improve the conditions of service of teachers and give teaching the recognition and prestige it deserves  

as the cradle for the country’s future. 

7. Lifelong Learning: Opportunity for All 

A major priority for UDC will be to ensure that all Batswana are provided with the opportunity to retrain and re-skill themselves throughout their lives. 

We will: 

Allocate funding for adult learning opportunities for all, including the retirees, to enable them to create  

jobs in the education and other sectors of the economy. We will also fund programs that support citizen  

to adapt to changing technology. 

Support community citizenship education initiatives to build social capital and build confident  

communities that are able to advocate for themselves and take charge of their own development.

8. Development of the Creative and the Sports Industries In the first five years.

The UDC will: 

Invest aggressively in the STEAM, sports, film, music, entertainment and television industries – from  

infrastructure and facilities to instructors, to lay the foundation for relevant education, innovation and a  

globally competitive workforce and firms. 

9. 

Youth Development  and Empowerment  

The UDC will: 

Provide avenues for the education and re-skilling of unemployed youths, including vocational and  

further training up to the graduate level, and facilitate youth entrepreneurship. The UDC will more generally promote longer stays in the education system and acquisition of superior skills through post-graduate  

training in order to equip young people with the higher skills and competencies required by the 4IR. 

Improve youth SMMEs access to business opportunities and linkages with large firms through the  

institutionalization of a culture of “Thinking Youth & Thinking Small”. This will entail instituting a requirement  to map all value chains, and unbundling of large projects using regulatory leverage to ensure that youth led  SMMEs are capacitated and given opportunities to participate in large projects.