the monitor

Gov't, teachers must unite for school sport

Today’s launch of school sport and arts in Lobatse should be a moment of national celebration, a long-overdue end to a five-year drought that has starved young talent and diminished Botswana’s sporting future.

Instead, it risks becoming an exercise in empty symbolism, undermined by the government’s baffling refusal to properly consult the very people essential for its success: teachers and their unions. President Duma Boko’s initiative is welcome. The suspension of these vital programmes in 2019, initially blamed on budget woes but rooted in a standoff over fair allowances for teacher-coaches, has done untold damage.

Restoring them is the right thing to do. However, the manner of this relaunch is profoundly ill-advised and threatens to derail it before it even begins.

Editor's Comment
Justice delayed is trust denied

Batswana who marched peacefully for 'Justice for Tshepi' demanded answers. They have now received a detailed account of police investigation and a promise that the file is with the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP). The real test is whether the state now keeps its word without further prodding. In his address, the minister asked the nation to trust the process. He spoke of rigour, not neglect, and pointed to 10 months of...

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