It is generally accepted that education is one of the few ways in which the social-economic conditions of a people can be improved. As most Batswana can attest, the investment government has put into the education and health infrastructure in our history served to bring out historically disadvantaged people to a better socio-economic state. This remarkable turn-around in the conditions of thousands of families in the decades following the discovery of diamonds points to this role of an improved access to education in the development of this nation.
Access to education has had a positive impact on our people. However, our education system at the time provided the quality needed for the type of country this was then. It had its own limitations but the education provided the manpower this country needed. Therefore it is possible to argue that just like this country most families that are in better socio-economic conditions were poor a generation ago. It has been the role of education of a particular generation that the next generation would move upwards. If this is true, then our public education system has been the bulwark of socio-economic development, nationally and at family level. However, this country has moved from the conditions of the '60s and early '70s, and our education system is developed. In recent times, like all developed economies, a diversity of education services has become available. Private education has become central to our overall education system and the diversity of types and levels of schools at all levels of education gives parents the choice and indeed provides opportunities for young Batswana to enjoy a higher quality of education.
