School sport was abruptly halted in 2019 due to a standoff between teachers and the Ministry of Basic Education over allowances. Following the recent Sport Pitso, where School Sport was on the agenda, the Minister of Sport and Arts, Jacob Kelebeng, and other top government officials met with teacher unions, Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) and Botswana Sectors of Educators Trade Union (BOSETU). Speaking to MmegiSport, BOSETU secretary-general Tobokani Rari said if talks between the ministry and unions bear fruit, school sport will resume next term.
He explained that the purpose of the meeting was introductions and the willingness to resume school sport by the new government. “Basically, what was discussed was what is to be done for teachers to be included in school sport. Both parties feel that school sport is important to students' learning. As unions, we never said teachers should not be part of school sport, but as long as they are compensated for the extra work that they will be doing. Teachers are regulated by the Public Sector Act, and it should apply when they work after hours and over the weekends. We agreed to engage on the proposal that they have either long or short-term,” he said. Rari explained that they informed the ministry that they have a proposal, which they shared with the previous government, covering both short and long-term solutions. He said at the end of the meeting, it was agreed that the ministry and unions' technical committees should meet and discuss proposals on the table. “We informed them that our technical committee, which comprises officers from BTU and BOSETU, is ready. All they have to do is just to meet briefly, refresh the proposal and present. I received a call this week from the ministry (Sport), which suggested that the two committees can meet next week. But it seems like we both share the same vision that school sport should resume. That has always been our stand,” he said.
