In October 2009 the Trainers and Allied Workers Union (TAWU or "union") made a proposal to the Office of the President for a "Reorganisation of the Ministry of Education and Skills Development" as part of the union's advocacy role. The union has continued to lobby for this position. We are convinced about the correctness of this position in the context of Botswana's development planning (including NDP 10) and the opportunity it would bring to resolve many problems currently encountered, not just in physical terms (workload) but also in organisational (governance) qualitative terms (socio-economic impact).
On February 11, 2013 the union proposed to the Minister of Presidential Affairs and Public Administration, Hon M Masisi, that the accepts to receive a position paper by 1st April 2013. He advised that a shorter version be presented by Wednesday 13th February, which we have obliged to.By re-organisation, we propose for a split of the MoESD and the creation of a new ministry to focus on Human Resource Development (as the overarching functional role), Tertiary Education, Technical and Vocational Education and Training and Research, Science, Technology and Innovation. In 2009 we proposed that a transformation towards the full split could start gradually with phased internal separation of the MoESD into two Assistant Ministerial portfolios and a Deputy Permanent Secretary for Higher Education (which is currently a small unit). That would demonstrate how the synergy between Basic Education and Higher Education would unfold in the medium term.
