EDUCATION AND HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

Key concepts
Education: teaching – Learning process or getting skills either through socialization, informal
or formal education. Learning may take place in the classroom, home, bogwera and bojale,
hands on experience on the job

Types of Education

i) Informal / traditional education

This type of education takes place at home or in the bush through socialisation
ii) Formal education
It is the teaching - learning process that takes place in the class room or learning
building environment.
.

Formal education is subdivided into two i.e. (Academic Education and Vocational
Education)

a) Academic Education

it offers knowledge and skills relevant for the white collar jobs (office work). Academic

Education can be further be classified into three groups i.e. (Primary, Secondary and Tertiary)

 Primary Education
It provides fundamental courses or a break through on life sustenance skills. In Botswana
primary education is standard 1 –7 and it’s universally accessed
 Secondary Education
It offers lower secondary level that is form 1-3 and upper secondary level form 4-5.
Almost all primary completers are admitted to lower secondary stage (form 1-3)
Only those with good passes are admitted to form4-5.
NB. Introduction of the Double Shift Pilot Project will give greater access to form 4-5 levels

 Tertiary Education
It is a higher stage of teaching –learning process that may involve specialization in area of
training
Offered at Colleges, UB, Boston Campus etc
Qualification after completion is proved by different awards e.g. degree, diploma, and
certificate

b) Vocational training
it offers specialized training in practical skills at institutions such as Brigades, VTC

ENTRY QUALIFICATIONS for both tertiary and vocational depend on course needs e.g. JC
Leavers for Brigades
Importance of traditional education
-It Helps to maintain law and order by creating a morally upright society. Children
under goes socialization processes which include teachings on respect and use of non
violent means to solve problems
- prepares one for adult or family life as students learn the norms and values /
responsibilities of the society such as family management
- Promote the spirit of self reliance as it imparts traditional marketable skills like craft
and agriculture.
- it instill a sense of community or national service as graduates of bogwera and
bojale has to engage in building roads, searching for missing people and other
communal services.
- Traditional education preserves culture as it emphasize on cultural identity through
use of age regiments
- promote peacefull coexistence / unity as it emphasize on conflict resolution skills /
strategies e.g negotiations , tolerance

Differences of traditional education with modern education

Modern
Use of Stationary e.g books as teaching
learning material
Life sustainance skills e.g world of work
Classroom/ building learning
Attire e.g uniform
Gender neutral syllabus e.g same class for girls
/boys
documented syllabus :closely supervised,
tested and Quality standards are realized as the
syllabus.
Use of documented certificate for accreditation
Traditional
None
Traditional marketable skills e.g hand craft
Socialization e.g outdoor
No uniform ( traditional attire)
Gender biased curriculum i.e Separate
classes/syllabus e.g bogwera ,bojale
No documented syllabus
Age regiment for accreditation

Importance of Education

 Impart /provide life sustenance skills (ethics) about ways of living

 Produce productive workforce as it provide relevant training as per the needs of our
different professions
 Make individuals cope with their ever changing socio-economic and political needs
 Promote behavioral change on ways to approach life issues

Role of education in promoting a healthy society

 Promote self awareness i.e. who you are / identity of individuals/ self actualization
 Promote personal hygiene for clean and disease free environment
 Facilitate easy access to balance diet for immunity against deseases
  Disseminate information that is necessary for our day to day life style e.g health
precautions / procedures
 Education changes our attitudes and behaviour: helps individuals to act responsibly or
even tolerate each other
 Critical thinking: equip individuals with a critical mind, it actually changes the way we
see or approach life

Nb: a healthy society is the one which possess the following qualities

- Good moral ethics / up righteousness

- Able to act responsibly
- Cultural identity (a lost nation have no identity)
- Have sound economic base
- Just loving and caring

How to sustain a healthy society

- teach us about a health diet ( balanced diet) for a healthy living

- Health education for Easy access to information appropriate for a healthy/
improving our living standards
- Availability of resources: this calls for equitable distribution of resources so as to
benefit all
- Use of an effective health legislation e.g provision of licences for medical
practitioners to prevent practice by faked practitioners
-
Consumer Awareness:

Refers to having knowledge about services and products that we get from the market e.g. food,
clothing, counseling etc.

 Consumer rights(entitlements that an individual have in connection with goods /

services offered in the market)
- Right to fair deal
- Right to consumer education
- Right to quality product
- Right to register dissatisfaction / complaints about market products

 What to do when consumer rights are violated

- Seek redress in a formal way (formal communication channels in lodging a
complaint)
- Alert the concerned business
- Lodge complaint to department of consumer affairs
- Legal redress e.g court

The role of education in promoting consumer education/ awareness

  Disseminates information to consumers about market products /services
 Enlightens individuals about their consumer rights and obligations e.g. what to do in the
event one buy an expired product

Consumer obligations and choices

- Right to boycott goods and services that are substandard

- Its one’ choice to read and understand the small print about the product e.g. expiry
date
- Consumers has right to seek clarity about contract of the selected product

Role of education in promoting voter education

- Education disseminates information about voting procedures and enlightens

people about voter’ rights.
- Education also helps voters make informed decisions when choosing
representatives

HOW EDUCATION PROMOTE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

- Disseminates relevant information about entrepreneurship skills i.e

Investors are exchange relevant information about how to start or
improve business. it
- Changes attitudes and behaviour of the workforce to increase
productivity at work. – as The workforce is trained on a number of
issues such as performance management system.
- prevents worker – employer conflicts as it intil a sense of tolerance
and appreciation at the workplace.
- Thus in a way Speeding up the pace of development as it caters for
the needs of customer or even client care attitude

HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

This refers to training and improvement in workers’ socio-economic welfare such as better
wages, accommodation, and safety. The idea is to have a productive workforce

CHALLLENGES OF SELF-EMPLOYMENT FACING A DEVELOPING NATION LIKE

BOTSWANA

i) Establishment of similar industries or duplication of industries that lead to serious

competition for limited markets and eventual collapse e.g. Car wash, Airtime for
cell phones

ii) Multi -National Corporations monopolize the market to inhibits growth of the
informal sector
iii) Lack of land / premises to build offices of operation e.t.c
 iv) High service provision charges by service providers e.g. water, electricity bills,
land rentals leading to high company capital operations
v) Lack of finance to start one’ own business
vi) Most people lack marketing skills /entrepreneur ship skills to manage established
businesses
vii) Access to legal advice or representation in handling business issues is too taxing

STRATEGIES OF JOB CREATION FOR THE YOUTH

- Easy access to credit facilities e.g. Young Farmers’ Fund

- Early exit packages to employees so as to open opportunities for the youth
- Exposure to hands on experiences e.g. job attachment /apprenticeship
- Attend vocational schools e.g. VTC
- Educate the youth through JAB
- Youth get involved in areas where they can show case their talent e.g. music industry, art

HOW THE DISABLED SHOULD BE CATERED FOR IN BOTSWANA’S EDUCATION

SYSTEM

- Create an enabling teaching – learning environment in schools e.g. paved ways to

accommodate movement of wheel chairs, toilets
- Include the disabled in the curriculum design of both academic and vocational syllabus so as
to capture their educational needs
- Promote behavioral change: by removing discriminatory barriers/ treat everyone as equals
regardless of their disabilities
-
Contribution of the disabled (disadvantaged)/youth to the country’s economic development
- Provide training opportunities for all people regardless of status
- Able to fight negative discrimination at work
- Have been able to create enabling environments including accessibility to flats

Study questions

1. Evaluate the role of various stakeholders in promoting Human resource development (Govt,
NGO’s)
2. Define economic Development
3. Identify four economic sectors in Botswana
4. Explain three ways of sustaining economic diversification
5. Explain five challenges of self employment in a developing country like Botswana
6. Explain how the disabled should be catered for in Botswana’s education system.
7. Analyse how the youth can contribute to economic development in Botswana.
8. Suggest strategies for job creation in a developing country like Botswana