Although some of us are not members of the opposition, we strongly believe that this time the president and his spin doctors got it wrong on school fees and opposition parties are right in advocating for universal education for all. Most of the elite in Botswana are beneficiaries of the universal education and we are thankful to the BDP government for having guaranteed this. It is sad that the reintroduction of school fees will reverse all the gains that we were about to reap. We do not know why our government insists on reintroduction of school fees at a time when the economy is growing at a fast rate.
The statistics that our president gives the nation about our achievement in managing the economy gives us an advantage to guarantee universal education for all. We all know that education is key to success, particularly in Botswana where poverty keeps rearing its ugly head on majority of citizens. We share the view by some senior government officials that there is too much abuse of alcohol in Botswana. We also acknowledge that majority of people in Botswana are willing to spend lots of money on beer than on their children. While this is true, these observations cannot be used as a reason to introduce school fees. Our government should not address the problem of drug abuse by the reintroduction of school fees. The government is now punishing the wrong people who are mainly poor people who may stay away from school besides government assurance that they will not be chased away on the basis of their poverty. One wonders why the government insists on payment of school fees when there are better ways of raising money.
