| Distance Education Most
distance education in Botswana seems to be very centralized and organized by Government or
parastatals. The following sub-sections or departments of the ministry are particularly
important role players with regard to distance education and technology use:
- Department of Non Formal Education (DNFE) which is responsible for adult basic
education. It originally had a distance education division that catered for schooling. It
is from this division that BOCODOL has developed.
- Department of Teacher Training and Development uses distance education for training its
own staff and both primary and secondary school teachers.
- Department of Curriculum Development and Evaluation which has been responsible for
developing a Computer Awareness curriculum for schools.
- Department of Vocational Education.
The flagship distance education provider is the Botswana
College of Distance and Open Learning (BOCODOL), which has been formed out of the
Ministry of Education’s Department of Non-formal Education (DNFE) Distance Education
division. BOCODOL currently offers distance education courses for the Junior Certificate
which is usually written at the end of Form Three or the end of junior secondary school.
This certificate is the end of basic education, which constitutes the first ten years of
formal schooling. BOCODOL also offers distance education courses for the General
Certificate in Secondary Education (GCSE) (written at the end of form 5). BOCODOL is being
established as a parastatal with a brief to continue offering school equivalence
programmes and additional vocational and non-formal courses for both adults and youth.
Currently, it has about 600 students registered for JC or GCSE courses and about 5,000
subject registrations. It uses printed materials, which are distributed in the post, 18
education centres, and DNFE regional offices as study centres for students to meet tutors.
Some counselling and advice services are available and a weekly 30-minute slot on Radio Botswana is dedicated to supporting its learners.
It seems relatively common for government employees in the Education Ministry to study further using distance education
programmes. For example, in the Department of
Teacher Training and Development (DTTD), a number of staff have enrolled in masters
programmes through foreign Universities. These seem usually to be in South Africa or the
United Kingdom. It is Government policy to release employers with full salary and a study
allowance for the first year of study and with half salary and study allowance for
subsequent years. DTTD has also invested in distance education for teachers and head
principals. It has legislated that all staff at teacher training colleges must have a
masters degree, as must all head teachers. Thirty head teachers are currently in the UK
attending a face-to-face master’s programme. In subsequent years, this will be done
using distance education methods. DTTD has insisted that all primary school teachers
upgrade their qualifications from a diploma to a certificate. It is therefore working with
the University of Botswana to launch a new distance education primary teachers diploma.
Secondary school teachers will also be expected to upgrade their qualifications from
diploma to degree. DTTD is investigating distance education options in South Africa and
the UK.
The Centre for Continuing Education (CCE) at the University of Botswana
now coordinates all distance education provision offered by the university. Currently it
has one distance education programme - a Certificate in Adult Education. In august 1999 it
will be starting the Primary Education Teachers’ Diploma mentioned above, with an
expected initial intake of 600 learners. A masters in education degree is planned for the
next two years (this will be modeled on the MEd currently being taken by head teachers in
the UK). The department of medicine is also considering introducing some distance
education programmes.
Damelin Botswana is a franchise business of
the South African Damelin. It acts as a recruitment agency for Botswana students to enrol
in Damelin South Africa courses. It also uses some of the Damelin course materials in
face-t-face computer and management courses offered from Gaborone. The franchise agreement
is soon to be under review with the possibility that the existing agreement with the
Institute of Commercial Management (ICM) in the United Kingdom may be extended.
Technology Use
Once again, most technology infrastructure is controlled by central
government. The Computer Bureau is the government department responsible for installation,
repair, and maintenance of all government computer software. This includes computers in
schools, education centres, the education ministry, and parastatals like BOCODOL. Use of
information and communication technologies (ICTs), particularly as a policy focus, is a
fairly recent development in Botswana. Levels of ICT infrastructure and use vary from
department to department. The Ministry of Education is viewed as an early starter in this
regard with other departments now starting to catch up and train their staff in computer
use. Most employees in the Ministry of Education have access to e-mail or are about to be
connected to the governments data network.
In terms of physical infrastructure the ministry of education is
responsible for:
- Primary schools (700 nationally);
- Junior secondary schools (205);
- Secondary schools (27);
- Education centres (12 – soon to be 15);
- Teacher education colleges (4 primary school training and 2 for secondary school teacher
training);
- Vocational centres (6-8); and
- Non-formal Education Department (NFED) district offices (18).
Government officials estimate that most schools have at least between
one and three computers for administrative use. Computer laboratories for student use have
been built at all Junior Secondary schools. Eleven schools have been equipped with 20
networked computers and dial up Internet connections as a pilot project for larger scale
computer role out. The department of curriculum development and evaluation has developed a
new curriculum for lot schools. Computer science is being offered as an optional GCSE
subject and secondary school teacher can now be trained with Computer Science as a minor
subject specialization The department has adopted an infusion policy aiming for all
teachers to feel able to use computers and to integrate computer use into their subject
teaching. No computer teachers or technicians are at schools, although the company
contracted to service repair and maintain all government computers can be called upon for
technical support at schools.
Computers are also available at education centres and DNFE offices.
These are used for administrative and educational purposes. In most cases, there is a LAN
at each centres but no Internet connection.
Botswana has two radio channels – Radio Botswana 1 and Radio
Botswana 2. The former is a public channel while the latter is commercial. RB1 has an
Educational Broadcasting Division which has been divided into Non-formal and Schools’
broadcasting sections. The schools broadcasting section broadcasts 15-minute radio
programmes from 08h10 to 11h00 and from 14h00 to 15h15 every weekday. These programmes
focus on supporting subjects in schools. There are usually 28 programmes in a series for a
specified subject and standard. It broadcasts a half-hour programme for teachers called Teachers
Forum once a week. The non-formal division produces distance education programmes to
support BOCODOL, adult literacy programmes, and civic education programmes. The distance
education radio programmes are produced collectively by radio producers and course
development officers at BOCODOL. BOCODOL is responsible for distance education provision
for the Junior Certificate (JC) and General Certificate of Education (GCE) in the school
curriculum. Fifteen minute- programmes are broadcast every Tuesday evening. Educational
radio programmes are also produced to support the work of the National Literacy project
coordinated by the Department of Non-Formal Education. Two 15-minute programmes are
broadcast per week. Programmes focusing on civic education focus on issues like health,
politics, food safety, shopping, transport and topical issues. These 30-minute programmes
are broadcast at 19h00 on Saturdays
Botswana does not have its own television broadcasts. The Department of
Information and Broadcasting plans to launch a national television channel, with a
deadline for findings being October 1999. Teachers have been coopted for this and some
have be sent on training. Educational programming will form an important part of the
public broadcasts. |
