About 261 pre- school teachers untrained
Innocent Selatlhwa | Monday June 10, 2024 06:00


Pre-school education lays the groundwork for a child's learning journey. Despite the increasing value attached to pre-school education and its recognition by the revised National Education Policy, many pre-school teachers remain untrained, which may compromise the quality of education. This was revealed in a recent publication titled 'Pre-Primary Stats - Statistics Botswana 2022.' The publication highlights pre-primary and primary education statistics derived from data collected during the 2022 annual school census. Acting Statistician General, Dr Lucky Mokgatlhe, emphasised that education is a vital tool for measuring human and societal development. 'The production of timely and reliable education statistics is important for monitoring and evaluating the impact of investment in education by the government, the private sector, NGOs, and other stakeholders. The statistics in this report will help monitor existing education policies, inform planning and decision-making, and serve as evidence of the country's progress towards national and international education goals,' said Mokgatlhe.
Research has linked early learning and development to the educational qualifications of teachers. 'The most effective pre-school teachers are those with at least a four-year college degree and specialised training in early childhood education. These teachers have more responsive interactions with children, provide richer language and cognitive experiences, and are less authoritarian. High-quality preschool education depends on effective, high-quality teachers,' states the report. The report reveals that the majority of pre-school teachers in Botswana are Batswana. Out of a total of 3, 372 teachers, 3, 206 (95.1%) were Batswana, while the rest were foreigners, predominantly female. The Kweneng District had the highest number of pre-primary school teachers, with 449 teachers, while the Sowa District had the least, with only two teachers. Preschool teaching staff is predominantly female, constituting 96.5% of the workforce.
'In 2022, there were 119 male and 3, 253 female pre-primary teachers. Of all teachers, 3, 111 were trained, constituting 92.3%, while 7.7% (261 teachers) were untrained. Notably, 77.8% of the untrained teachers were in private schools,' the report states. Of the total teachers, 3, 206 were citizens, and 166 were non-citizens. Among the citizen teachers, 257 (7.6%) were unqualified, while only four (0.1%) of the foreign teachers were unqualified. Most qualified teachers held diplomas (1, 552) and certificates (1, 124). There were 222 teachers with bachelor's degrees, while 261 were unqualified. Additionally, 203 teachers held other teaching qualifications, and only 10 had a Masters in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE). 'This indicates that about 46% of pre-primary teachers were diploma holders, 33.3% were certificate holders, and only 7.7% were unqualified. Degree holders in ECCE constituted 6.6%, those with other certificates and diplomas had the same percentage (1.9%), those with other degrees constituted 1.8%, and those with Masters degrees in ECCE and those without a Masters degree stood at 0.3% and 0.4% respectively,' states the report.
According to Statistics Botswana, data on day care/nursery and pre-primary schools was collected from 1, 305 institutions. Out of the total, 679 (52%) were government-owned, 500 (38.3%) were privately owned, 67 (5.1%) were community-owned, and 28 (2.1%) were owned by churches. NGOs owned 27 (2.1%), while staff/institutional and other ownership categories accounted for three (0.2%) and one (0.1%) schools, respectively. Among the 41, 539 pre-primary school attendees, the majority were in the Central region, with 13, 910 (33.5%) of the total enrolment, followed by the Kweneng region with 5, 699 (13.7%). The Chobe region had the least number of pre-primary attendees, with 498 (1.2%). Most pre-primary attendees were aged between four and six years. The report underscores the critical need for more trained pre-school teachers to ensure the quality of early childhood education in Botswana. Without proper training, the foundational benefits of pre-school education may not be fully realised, potentially impacting the country's educational outcomes in the long term.
The Botswana Sectors of Educators Trade Union (BOSETU) earlier this year called on government to improve resources, infrastructure, and curriculum control for early childhood education. The introduction of early childhood education in public primary schools has been criticised by BOSETU for government's perceived 'half-hearted' commitment. The union’s secretary-general, Tobokani Rari, emphasised the need for improved conditions in public school early childhood education to reduce the pressure on these schools. Speaking in Gantsi in March during the BOSETU Pitso Ko Moding conference panel discussion, he stated that the current provision of early childhood education through preschool classes is insufficient. He therefore called for the incorporation of early childhood education into mainstream education with ample resources, suitable infrastructure, and a controlled teaching curriculum for both public and private schools. 'We don't believe in the sale of education; we do not believe that education should be sold. If you look at what has been happening and what is happening, most of the preschools are private, and there is no control over the curriculum; secondly, parents have to pay to take their children there,' he told the conference held under the theme, 'BOSETU collaborating with key stakeholders for the advancement and improvement of Pre-Primary and Primary Sector Performance’. This is contrary to what we believe in. We don't believe that the government has done enough; the government is somewhat half-hearted in implementing it,” he noted.
Rari emphasised the need for the government to decolonise and radically transform the education system to improve it at developmental levels. He criticised the current system as a reflection of the colonial education system adopted from colonial years. 'We believe that we need to adopt an education system that is able to respond to the needs of Batswana. We should be in a position to identify talents and potential that our education system doesn't have. We believe that when children reach a level at primary school, we should have identified where these children should be channelled. We believe we need to come up with proper multiple pathways, where we can channel different children of different potential,' Rari said.