Letsholathebe was among the key speakers at the Botswana Teacher Union's Tertiary Sector Day in Francistown over the weekend. The event was themed ‘a building block towards a knowledge economy’.
His sentiments come at a time when tertiary schools in the country especially those that are privately owned, are being accused of prioritising profits over quality. “Education as a business should not be allowed to develop at the expense of education as a service. Therefore, we need to pay attention to how we regulate education to get the best out of private and public institutions,” Letsholathebe said. He said that whilst private capital is flowing into tertiary education the country has not been fortunate enough to have developed outstanding private tertiary education institutions. “The existence of first-rate private schools at the primary and secondary education levels gives hope that some of our tertiary education institutions will evolve into first-rate institutions,” Letsholathebe said. Furthermore, the minister believes that quality tertiary education is imperative for Botswana’s transition to a high-income knowledge economy and for such to happen the regulation of tertiary schools should be strong.
