BOSETU keeps an eye on school sports
In 2019, the Ministry of Basic Education ( MoBE) announced indefinite suspension of school sports in the country, a move that prompted introspection to enhance development.
A reported budget of P2 million a year against an annual cost of about P60 million for school sports saw the government struggle to sustain competitions and pay teachers their overtime dues that were accumulated through sports.
As a way to remedy the problem, government through the Ministries of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development ( MYSC) and Basic Education set up a Joint Task Team ( JTT) last year. The task team has since made recommendations suitable to run and manage local school sport. The task team has submitted the report to the relevant bodies, and recently MoBE invited Botswana Sectors of Educators Trade Union ( BOSETU) to engage on recommendations put forth by JJT. Part of the report recommendations suggests that: compensation of volunteers in school sports will be standard with volunteerism across the sports sector. The ‘ grey’ area of teacher’s involvement in school sports as employees of Ministry of Basic Education may be eliminated.
BOSETU Secretary General, Tobokani Rari says upon receiving invite from MoBE for talks on the matter, they have engaged their own task force to make assessment on the JJT proposal before implementation processes of the report recommendations can begin. “We recently received an invitation from MoBE to discuss recommendations of this report, which include infusion of sports in the school calendar. We are looking into the report, and we have selected a task team that is looking at it,” Rari admitted. The report further suggests that teachers engaged in school sports activities will be doing so on a voluntary basis as is the case when they engage in activities such as Botswana Games and National Association competitions, where they are compensated with an agreed standard sport volunteer allowance. “The reason they want to introduce allowances is because they are going to pay less than what the teacher would have gained had it been overtime. We will calculate what overtime payment structures were like and make comparisons with what they are proposing through their allowance policy. “We have always maintained that all our teachers should participate in sport activities, if they are asked to volunteer, this tells you about the attitude of our government with regards to school sports engagement. It will make it difficult for us and the country to do talent identification, this will compromise the school sporting activities,” BOSETU Secretary General emphasized. For her part, Tapiwa Masunga, Chairperson of the task team shared that they engaged all relevant bodies when conducting their research. She stated that their recommendations were informed by what they have gathered on the ground as her team travelled across the country on a facts finding mission. “We conducted a research study and interviewed relevant stakeholders. Early this year, we submitted the report to BNSC. What is left for them is to engage with their stakeholders and make decisions,” said Masunga. The report further urged government to ‘ exploit’ the potential value of schools and create a conducive environment for a holistic learner/ student- athlete development. This is in accordance with Botswana’s long- term vision of 2036, particularly the human and social development pillar. Masunga and her team also recommended that sports should be scheduled throughout the year, to promote physical activity as well as talent development programmes for identified athletes. The reports added that all primary schools should have full- time sports master/ senior teacher sport responsible for all school sports activities reporting to the Head of Department. Already at secondary schools there are senior teacher sports with a reduced teaching load.