Monkagedi Gaotlhobogwe
10 November 2008
The Botswana Congress Party Youth League (BCPYL) together with college students plan to stage a massive demonstration on Thursday in an attempt to make the Minister of Education and Skills Development Jacob Nkate to quit.
The BCPYL has roped in the students to force the minister to resign for what they term appalling education standards. The demonstrators will present two petitions - one calling on Nkate to resign and the other opposing the Media Practitioners' Bill - to the National Assembly at 2.30 pm on Thursday.
The BCP youth are mobilising students from GIPS, NIIT, BAC and University of Botswana (UB) for the demonstration.The youth secretary general Thato Osupile said they are concerned that the students at some private colleges are being lectured by incompetent or less qualified lecturers. "There is also no transparency at some of these colleges. They change lecturers frequently. Their course material also keeps on changing. Some of the courses are downloaded from the internet," Osupile charged.He said they are concerned about lack of resources, shortage of toilets, computer labs, libraries at some of the colleges. He said students at one of the colleges are denied the opportunity to take practical classes and study theory only.
Osupile said college (name withheld) is not receptive to Students Representative Council (SRC). "Management has resorted to intimidation of the SRC. We have a letter from their attorney threatening the SRC. They are warning it to stop being vocal. This is intimidation," Osupile said.
He stated that they are concerned about the role of Botswana Training Authority (BOTA) and the Tertiary Education Council (TEC) in maintaining standards at the colleges. "Students are concerned that some of these colleges accredited by BOTA and TEC continue to offer substandard education. We question the relationship between BOTA, TEC and these institutions," he said.
He added that they are concerned that Nkate is slow to act on some of the pressing issues. "We are aware that he received sponsorship from NIIT. How do you expect him to take stringent measures against the hand that feeds him," he said.
In their petition, the BCP youth demand that the minister and his two deputies must resign immediately. They want President Ian Khama to establish a commission of inquiry to investigate discrepancies and concerns raised by the students. They said Khama should audit all processes and operations at the Ministry of Education, especially the Department of Student Welfare, BOTA and TEC from 2001. Among others, the BCP youth petition demand that all SRCs be recognised as independent statutory bodies through an Act of Parliament, which will empower them to operate without hindrance.Nkate told Monitor that the demonstrators will find him relaxed and in a jovial mood, because he is confident that he is doing well at the ministry. He said his good record as Education and Skills Development Minister is there for all to see.
He is happy that the ministry has experienced tremendous growth and made notable achievements in the last few years. He said the ministry has increased tertiary education enrolment three-fold since 2006, when they started sponsoring students to study at home rather than in foreign countries.
"Placement of students abroad was extremely expensive. On average when we sponsor students to study locally, we save 40 percent," said Nkate. "I am happy that we now have local tertiary institutions to place our students. It has enabled us to increase enrolment three-fold. In the past this would not have been achieved," he said.
Nkate is not bothered by the BCP demonstration. "I am proud about the quality of the local institutions generally. People must realise we did not just wake up and fund these colleges. We set up the Tertiary Education Council (TEC) specifically to subject the colleges to intensive scrutiny. They evaluate infrastructure, course material, personnel and so forth, before approval," he said.
Nkate said sponsoring students to study in local institutions means that most of the money stays in the country. "Students spend the money here, the institutions also spend the money here; our money circulates within our economy as opposed to when we pay external institutions," the minister said.
He added that the ministry is now monitoring institutions where Batswana students are studying closely. "We could not call foreign institutions and demand an explanation, but the fact that these colleges are here, we now can go there and address some of the challenges faced by our students," he said. Some colleges like Limkokwing, NIIT and GIPS have been accused of poor standards service. But Nkate said that while he is aware that not everything is going well at such colleges, he is happy that they provide hands on practical education and training.
"We cannot deny there are teething problems here and there. It is normal. Serious-minded people are aware that we react timely to some of these challenges. But we cannot just wake up and chase the colleges away, no. That will be immaturity and irresponsibility on our part. We rather prefer to help the colleges overcome their challenges and move forward. It is our duty as a government to nurture some of these local institutions," Nkate said.He added that he is very happy to serve as the Minister of Education at this time.
"Today government is working hard to establish Botswana into a world centre for education. Education hub, with its coordinator has been established to propel the nation towards the realisation of the dream. That's why I am saying I am very happy with what we are doing in this Ministry and as a government. A major government initiative is to turn Botswana into a centre of excellence in education, attracting the best institutions, and students," Nkate said.
"Our primary, secondary and tertiary education will be envied by all, that is our target, and we are working hard right now to realise that ambition. We have a medical school coming up as well as the second university in Palapye, the UB expansion, as well as the take over and convention of brigades, technical colleges. These are the flagship projects which will be the main features of our education hub," Nkate told Monitor."We also have a running programme with Microsoft called the Microsoft schools initiative, through which we are spreading IT skills to all junior secondary schools and senior secondary schools in the country.
That is huge. We are succeeding in building an IT-skilled Botswana. So as the minister of education really, I know where we are going, and where we are coming from. I hope other Batswana have eyes also. The BCP is free to toyi-toyi," Nkate said.
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