You Got It Wrong

| Monday March 22, 2010 00:00

In The Monitor of March 15, your reporter has distorted the Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development, Keletso Rakhudu's statement made at the recent official launch of the Tertiary Education Policy Communications Campaign at Boipuso Hall, when he claims that the Minister said 'the education environment has been engulfed by many challenges for a long time, including poor quality education by Private Institutions who nevertheless charge exorbitantly.'

Rakhudu's words, quoting him verbatim (from the speech in our possession) reads; 'Private Institutions have proliferated with some taking advantage of a weak regulatory environment and the enormous demand for post secondary education, by offering poor quality programmes at exorbitant cost to the student.'

I hope your readers will make a distinction between a blanket generalisation purported in your statement and a qualified one asserted by the Minister.

In every community, organisation or company, there are always good and poor performers. It is, however, unfair to paint all with one brush, just as it is equally improper to do likewise with Private Tertiary Education Institutions.

As Private Tertiary Education Providers, most of us are self respecting institutions, striving so hard, day in day out, to do our best, within our limited financial resources, to offer nothing else, but quality tertiary education in the best interest of our students and human resource development in Botswana.

We therefore, would appreciate it, if interested parties and stakeholders, could recognise and acknowledge our strengths and achievements, while at the same time, we shall appreciate constructive criticism where necessary.

Odirile B Gabasiane BAPTEP Chairperson