Rari questions preparedness by gov't for ambitious digitisation policy
Correspondent | Friday February 19, 2021 15:28
Interacting with the press at a BOSETU budget review session early this week, Rari noted that digitisation at basic education level targeting Standard 5’s up to Standard 7’s was the standout highlight in the 2021-2022 development budget.
Rari said at paragraph 66 the budget speech says “…digitalisation will also be carried out in schools, through procurement of ICT learning devices for all learners and teachers from Standard 5 to Form 5 level, connectivity to all schools, developing e-learning material, and training teachers and school managers on basic ICT skills”.The budget speech
further posits that:…. the Ministry of Basic Education (MoBE) takes the fourth largest share of the proposed Development Budget at P1.61 billion or 10.91 percent in order to drive the transformation of Botswana into a Knowledge-Based Economy and deliver on the promise of the 21st century learner. To cater for School Digitisation initiatives, the MoBE still has to procure devices for ICT-based learning for all learners and teachers from Standard 5 to Form 5 level; roll out functional connectivity to all schools; develop and source e-Content for schools; train teachers and school managers on basic ICT skills and use of technology on teaching and learning; and outsource educational broadcasting programmes. (Paragraph 113)
“Considering the challenges brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the move towards school digitisation is a welcome development which, if properly implemented, will go a long way towards enhancing both the quality of education as well as enhancing its delivery,” the BOSETU Secretary General noted.
“ Unfortunately, the realisation of this ideal might take long to be attained because of poor planning and lack of preparedness to implementing Ministry, the MoBE”.
“MoBE is not prepared and still needs to come up with a comprehensive plan for the implementation of the school digitisation initiative. This can be deduced from the Budget Speech, specifically the point that has been raised that: To cater for School Digitisation initiatives, MoBE still has to procure devices for ICT-based learning for all learners and teachers from Standard 5 to Form 5 level; roll out functional connectivity to all schools; develop and source e-Content for schools; train teachers and school managers on basic ICT skills and use of technology on teaching and learning; and outsource educational broadcasting programmes. (paragraph 113)
“It is reasonable to state that MoBE should have long embarked upon capacity building for teachers in order to prepare them for the envisaged transformation”, Rari observed.
According to Rari, there is clearly a lack of Government commitment to sector level approach to the education transformation process, in this respect school digitisation. “This is reflected by the fact that there is no reference to the transformation of teacher education, a function undertaken by the Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology”.
The Bosetu Secretary General added that teacher training institutions need to embrace this in the reforms of teacher education and training. “The digitisation initiative should have been reflected in the budget as a system level transformation initiative covering basic education, tertiary education and technical and vocational education”. “As a word of caution, it should be noted that technology alone cannot guarantee good learning outcomes. More important than training teachers in ICT skills, is ensuring that they have the assessment and pedagogical skills to meet students at their level and to implement the curricula and differentiated learning strategies. This calls for a well-structured and coordinated professional development programme which would need to cut across the three ministries making up the education sector. And resources need to be availed for that,” pointed out the Secretary General
Rari added that any move towards utilising the digital platform to deliver education will of necessity compel the Government to ensure that children have better access to the internet.
“Every effort should be made to ensure that children from the poorest households and disadvantaged communities will not continue to be left behind. It is also essential that learners are trained on how to use this learning mode. Failure to take these factors into account may result in inequalities in access to quality education”.
However Rari noted that it remained unclear how the proposed budget had taken into account these critical factors.
Turning to the Ministry of Local Government which also manages education, Rari hoped that as per the promise of the 2021 budget proposal, the primary school backlog eradication programme will assist in dealing with the current congestion problem.
“Unfortunately, the planned intervention is based on the pre-COVID-19 scenario. The need for more space has since arisen, hence necessitating the revision of the existing plans. The proposed budget has therefore been tailored to deal with legacy issues and it does not address the need to decongest schools as dictated by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this regard, it can be said, without any doubt, that the proposed budget allocation is not sufficient to address primary schools infrastructure requirements which are critical for the delivery of quality education”, observed the Secretary General.
COVID-19 Pandemic
The Bosetu Secretary General added that the 2021-22 budget proposal did not provide any hint on how the Government sought to confront the COVID-19 pandemic at system level. Rari observed that most of the reference to COVID-19 was with respect to how it had impacted the economy, both locally and globally. “This omission or gap, therefore, makes it difficult to tell how sectors, including education, are going to be resourced to deal with the pandemic, save for the recruitment of more teachers to assist with the reduction of the class size”. Rari added that this overall reflected a lack of creativity on the part of the Government in coming up with a coherent system level strategy upon which sector initiatives or interventions can be anchored as the Nation strives to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic.