For a start, nothing was said about the Tertiary Education Policy to regulate the tertiary institutions and the broader mandate of the Tertiary Education Council, vis--vis registration and accreditation and the likely effects of these processes on the quality of education in Botswana. The minister again failed to mention whether the policy that was submitted to Cabinet last year has been approved or not.
While the transition rate from junior secondary to Form Four has been increased to 83 percent, the finance minister did not indicate whether government is going to increase the intake at tertiary institutions. He mentioned the takeover of the brigades but failed to explain how they are going to link that with the senior schools to prepare them to take vocational education. "He raised a number of interesting issues as if they were different unrelated issues. There is an absence of an overall strategy on human resource for the economy," commented one education expert. Minister Gaolathe mentioned the takeover of brigades and converting them into technical colleges but did not provide any time frame. "It was not enough to say that they were busy with the takeover without giving the time frame within which the audits would be completed. It is not enough looking at the way they are currently run, especially the workers. We hope government will speed up the process," Trainers and Allied Workers Union president Allan Keitseng said.
