BTU TERTIRAY, SECONDARY, AND HUMAN RIGHTS CONFERENCES

Last weekend, Botswana Teachers Union ( BTU) held conferences for its Tertiary, Secondary, Gender and Human Rights Sectors in Palapye. Among the key agenda items that were discussed at the conference, were reports on the overall progress of each sector, dialogue on the challenges faced by members of the union at their respective sectors. Recommendations on how each sector should enhance its operations were also made at the respective conferences. The theme the for the tertiary sector, was, ‘ Tertiary Education Sector Transformation: A Key Requirement For Current And Post Covid 19 Era’, while the secondary conference was themed, ‘ You may pay your teachers BUT ultimately they may succumb to COVID- 19 if they continue being IGNORED during this pandemic.’

The gender and Human Right Conference werethemed:’ Igniting the gender and human rights course in the midst of a crisis: The quest for human dignity.’

The conferences were held in three separate venues. When giving a keynote address at the secondary sector conference the guest speaker, Barulganyi Mogotsi said thatsaid that it is increasingly becoming evident that teachers are among the most cadres that have been adversely affected by COVID- 19. He said that the government must act urgently to counter the challenges brought by covid- 19 to the teaching fraternity.

“The urgent development of a risk management framework to protect teachers against covid- 19 is very vital,” he said.

He pointed out that government should provide adequate supply of COVID- 19 materials such as sanitizers, water, soap, and other cleaning chemicals. He added that BTU should strongly advocate for the introduction of a temporary COVID- 19 risk allowance for teachers. A majority of challenges faced by the tertiary sector where also covid- 19 related. The report was president by Vice President ( Tertiary) Comrade Maureen Seotlwe.

The sector report highlighted that tertiary institutions face severe challenges regarding Covid 19 adherence

On the challenges that were raised in the tertiary sector report were overall non- compliance to COVID- 19 protocols in schools. “There is no regular cleaning of classrooms and offices. Only management offices are cleaned daily. There is also no fumigation of classrooms even when students and staff members have tested positive to Covid,’ said Seotlwe.

The report noted that despite poor adherence to protocolsand working under life- threaten