Botswana signs deal for educational TV

CHANDAPIWA BAPUTAKI
Staff Writer | Thursday April 16, 2009 00:00

The agreement was signed between NHK and the Ministry of Education (MoE) at the Gaborone Sun. MoE Permanent Secretary, Ruth Maphorisa said the event was a culmination of a long process of negotiations meant to achieve the greatest benefit from the relationship.

She said the ministry has long realised the role-played by electronic media in education. This is why it established educational radio programmes early in the education system.
She explained that in 2006, the ministry, through the Department of Curriculum Development and Evaluation, engaged a consultancy to look into the possibility of establishing educational television in Botswana.

This was meant to support the curriculum at different levels to provide public education and to be used for distance learning.

Maphorisa asserted that the consultancy was in line with the objectives of the National Development Plan 9 (NDP 9), which stated that with the advent of Botswana Television providing a national service, the educational broadcasting service will augment the educational radio programmes with television broadcasts.

Maphorisa revealed that to implement the recommendations outlined in the strategy document, the ministry solicited assistance from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for a senior volunteer to assist in establishing the Educational Television Desk.

The volunteer was meant to facilitate the start of production and broadcasting of educational television programmes.

The PS stated that parallel to the initiative by her ministry, NHK made an offer to the Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology in November 2006 to attach one of its top producers to BTV to help the station develop capacity in the field of educational television. 

The offer was made through the Botswana Embassy in Tokyo, Japan. It was later redirected to the MoE as the rightful custodians of such a project.

Maphorisa revealed that some of the expected benefits are the training of core staff such as technical, operational and production staff.

The MoE expect to be offered discounted deals for purchasing television equipment from Japanese companies and availing an opportunity to Botswana Educational Television (BETV) to buy some of NHK's relevant educational programmes.

Maphorisa revealed that the senior Managing Director of Production for NHK's educational department joined the ministry in September 2008 and has been involved in preparations for the institution of BETV.

She stated that the envisaged BETV will address a diverse audience and educate the entire nation. 

'It will target a wide range of areas such as formal education, supplementing the curriculum from pre-primary to tertiary education, non-formal education as in out of school youth, agriculture, health, security, lifestyle, life skills and vocational skills,' she said.

She explained that these will be achieved through the use of genres such as talk shows, drama and documentaries and to some extent, edutainment.

She added that educational television broadcasts are expected to start in October 2010.

'This will call for expertise and prudent management of meagre resources available to us during these trying times where wastage is completely not tolerated,' Maphorisa said.

President of NHK Educational Corporation Tatsuo Gunji said they have years of experience as Japan's sole public broadcaster with services reaching 47 million households.