Ministry plans 'house mothers' for RAD schools

Deputy Permanent Secretary David Ratsatsi said on Monday that this could be a way of combating school dropouts from these areas. The house mothers would have to be people from the same communities as the learners who stay in these hostels, he said.  Ratsatsi was speaking at a briefing between his ministry and the South African Portfolio Committee on Basic Education who are in Gaborone on a benchmarking mission to learn best practices from the Botswana education system.

Ratsatsi told the South African delegation that the issue of school dropouts is a big challenge locally, particularly in communities that are still semi-nomadic due to seasonal pursuits such as farming and thatch-grass cutting. The ministry set up hostels to ensure that learners have access to education even when their parents move, he said.
However, the hostels are not altogether successful as learners still run away from them and join their parents on the farms.