Sinister signs in the sponsorship quota horizon
Friday, August 12, 2016
Uncertain future: Govt has imposed quotas on sponsorship at tertiary level
The ‘truism’ that tertiary institutions are producing non-market ready graduates, has been the talk of conferences and workshops held to strategise the country’s human capital development. In the past decade, institutions tasked with aligning higher education courses and market needs have been busy at work to resolve this national headache.
Essentially, the efforts have been around ensuring that the billions of Pula government pumps into sponsorship of tertiary students goes towards qualifications and skills that are required in the economy. The idea is to avoid ‘wasting’ scarce national resources, inflating the numbers of graduates in already surfeit sectors, to the detriment of sectors where hands are required.
Whilst we join Botswana Sectors of Educators Trade Union (BOSETU) and other stakeholders in commending the rise in top grades, a testament to the unwavering effort of many teachers and pupils, this progress is fundamentally shadowed by a failing that shames our society. The stark, persistent urban-rural divide is not just a statistic, but an active betrayal of thousands of young Batswana.The figures are a damning indictment. When pass rates in...