Minister proposes stringent tertiary education regulation

FRANCISTOWN: The Minister of Education and Skills Development, Douglas Letsholathebe has admitted that there is a need for government to work with close stakeholders to urgently strengthen the regulation of private and public tertiary institutions to boost their efficiency.

He was amongst the key speakers at the Botswana Teacher Union’s Tertiary Sector Day here over the weekend. The event was themed ‘A building block towards a knowledge economy’.

His sentiments come at a time when tertiary schools in the country especially those that are privately owned, are being accused of prioritising profits over quality.

“Education as a business should not be allowed to develop at the expense of education as a service. Therefore, we need to pay attention to how we regulate education to get the best out of private and public institutions,” Letsholathebe said.

He added that whilst private capital is flowing into tertiary education, the country has not been fortunate enough to have developed outstanding private tertiary education institutions.

“The existence of first-rate private schools at the primary and secondary education levels gives hope that some of our tertiary education institutions will evolve into first-rate institutions,” he said.

Furthermore, the minister believes that quality tertiary education is imperative for Botswana’s transition to a high-income knowledge economy and for such to happen the regulation of tertiary schools should be strong.

In his address, Letsholathabe also pleaded with tertiary institutions not to neglect collaboration with model institutions in other countries. He pointed out that local tertiary institutions will not grow qualitatively if they do not identify and partner with institutions with proven relence, cords of excellence, from around

the world, through research and exchange programmes amongst others.

He also called on the private sector to come on board and start assisting government to fund tertiary education.

Letsholathabe explained that tertiary education is increasingly becoming expensive adding that it is not sustainable for the government to continue being the exclusive funder of tertiary learners. The government commits more than a third of its budget to education annually and a large chunk of the money is used to fund tertiary education.

Government has also indicated plans to start a policy that will oblige financially stable parents to fund their children at a tertiary level.

“We need to bring private capital on board to finance tertiary education. All stakeholders need a total shift of mindset towards education provisioning and financing.

We need the private sector to get more involved in tertiary education,” Letsholathebe said.

Apart from assisting in bridging the funding gap of tertiary education, the minister pointed out that if the government and private sector can further explore their partnerships, the move could help drive innovation.

Education as a business should not be allowed to develop at the expense of education as a

service