Contemporary Challenges In Basic Education

DORCAS MOLEFHE OWEN PANSIRI and SHELDON WEEKS | Monday December 15, 2008 00:00

One of the major goals of EFA is: 'that by 2015 all children in difficult circumstances and those belonging to ethnic minority [groups], have access to and complete free and compulsory primary education of good quality'.

The issue of access to good quality formal education or schooling has remained a critical challenge facing most of the low-income and middle-income countries.
Admittedly, Botswana has always been ahead in paying attention to the educational needs of its people, even before the launch of EFA in 1990.

This is indicative of its 1977 Education for Kagisano that emphasised the policy of reaching out to the remotest settlements in all corners of the country through district development strategies.

However, the challenges of providing universal basic education seem to remain a huge problem. First, like in many other national governments, the concept of 'basic education' is problematic.

The 1977 education policy pinned basic education to primary education. The current education policy blueprint (Revised National Policy on Education of 1994) limit basic education to a 10-year programme  that is primary and junior secondary schooling.
 

The education policy framework is problematic because it does not include early childhood care and education nor does it define 'basic'. In terms of practice, the provision of basic education is reported to be problematic, particularly in the North West, Kgalagadi and Kweneng West Districts.

Recently some ongoing research studies, media stories and Ministry of Education official statistics suggest that these districts are overrepresented in the numbers of children missing from the basic education school system. These districts have remote settlements with less access to formal educational opportunities.

Some children in those areas leave school before they complete their basic education. Schools in those districts perform poorly in national examinations.
However, statistics show that access to Standard One has improved. Botswana's achievement and performance is recognised by the EFA Global Monitoring Reports between 2002 and 2008.

Confirming the improved record of achieving increased 'access' to basic education, one recent study found out that at least children in some remote areas do get the opportunity to register at one primary school or another.
Spaces are more than enough in schools at the basic education level, that is, in both primary and junior secondary schools.

All those who complete primary school are now guaranteed entry into junior secondary schools. This study has also found that the emerging problem is 'school retention or school holding power'.

The study suggests that this 'school holding power' is the key issue that still remains unattended to in the basic education programme in terms of both policy and practice.
As pronounced in the Revised National Education Policy of 1994 and re-affirmed in the national Vision 2016, Botswana wishes to be, and is indeed committed towards making itself, an educated and informed nation by 2016.

Along the pathway of the Millennium Development Goals, the country sees education as a key vehicle for poverty reduction and improved life chances.
However, these dreams are far from being realised, given the magnitude of early school leaving in rural and remote schools, as for example, the case reflects itself in the three districts mentioned above.

Many approaches are needed to get Botswana to address these challenges of access, retention and poor performance. First, there is need to re-visit and evaluate the strategies that have been used since the education policies of 1977 and 1994 to determine where the education system went right and wrong.

There is also a need to re-define basic education in the context of socio-economic situation and the geographic variations of the country, with the view of determining quality and relevance of the various educational programmes designed to reach children in special circumstances.

This again requires collaboration between districts, local communities, education planners, researchers, and classroom practitioners. A review of past research work on the provision of basic education would also benefit both policy formulation and practice.