POVERTY AND INADEQUATE INFRASTRUCTURE HAMPER

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 GABORONE 001180

SIPDIS

USDOL FOR ILAB
STATE FOR AF/S - MUNCY

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SCUL ECON ELAB EAID PREL BC
SUBJECT: POVERTY AND INADEQUATE INFRASTRUCTURE HAMPER
BOTSWANA'S DRIVE TOWARD UNIVERSAL EDUCATION

REF: GABORONE 1113


1. Summary: The Government of Botswana has made
significant headway since independence in achieving its
goal of providing universal education to its people,
but inadequate infrastructure and poverty impede
further progress. High rates of poverty and
unemployment (reftel),particularly in rural areas,
mean parents face challenges in getting their children
to school, paying for uniforms and meals, and in making
the choice to sacrifice their children's labor on
family farms in exchange for an education. Lack of
sufficient classroom space, toilets, administration
buildings, staff housing, and basic services such as
electricity also continue to hamper the government's
efforts. While a high incidence of absenteeism,
seasonally estimated in one village at nearly 50
percent, and dropouts as well as lack of employment or
higher education opportunities for those who graduate
exacerbate the problems faced by Botswana. End
summary.

Public Education and School Fees
--------------

2. Public education in Botswana is free but not
compulsory for students from primary through senior
secondary school. Parents who are able are expected to
pay ancillary fees for things such as transportation,
meals and school uniforms. The children of parents
registered as destitute and/or as Remote Area Dwellers,
largely made up of the ethnic minority Basarwa/San
people, receive school uniforms, books, housing and
meals free of charge. However, many poor parents face
difficulties in meeting the necessary school costs.
This often impedes their ability to send their children
to school.


3. To complicate this further, the MOE has announced
that secondary school fees, which were abolished in the
heyday of diamond revenue increases in the mid-1980s,
will be reintroduced in 2006 for those able to afford
them. The Minister of Education, Jacob Nkate, has said
that this move is part of the government's cost-
recovery strategy in the face of declining revenue and
greater demands on scare resources to deal with
problems such as HIV/AIDS. The proposal has met with
considerable resistance from opposition parties.
According to the government-owned Daily News, the
President of the Botswana Peoples Party (BPP) opined
that the fees, which will be approximately USD 60-90
per annum, "would deny most Batswana children access to
education as parents cannot afford to pay." Although
the impact on attendance is hard to predict, this
statement is an exaggeration.

School Infrastructure Inadequate
--------------

4. Botswana spends roughly 25 percent of its total
annual budget on education, but only eight percent of
its annual development budget goes to school
infrastructure needs. The Senior Education Secretary
in the northwestern Okavango Sub-District, Ms. Molotsi,
told Econoff and Pickering Fellow (who traveled
throughout rural Botswana in July) of serious
infrastructure inadequacies at primary and junior
secondary schools in the district. She said school
construction projects have been frozen due to a lack of
funding. She cited 275 toilets, 97 classrooms, 20 new
administration buildings, and 128 new staff houses as
the minimums needed just to meet existing requirements
and national standards for the sub-district's 29
primary schools. The government faces a real problem
attracting quality teachers to rural areas where staff
housing and basic services like electricity and running
water are inadequate. It is likely that the difficulty
in attracting good quality teachers to these rural
areas means the quality of education in rural areas
suffers.

Absenteeism and Dropouts Common
--------------

5. Many people live in remote villages, and access to
secondary education is difficult. Some students live
as far as 120 km from the nearest junior secondary
school. While government provides hostels for some
primary and secondary school students, the demand
exceeds the supply. Only 5 out of 22 primary schools
in Ghanzi have boarding facilities. Based on these
figures, it is easy to conclude that a lack of
transportation is one common reason why many students
dropout of school before reaching junior or senior
secondary school. But there are a wide variety of
reasons for these problems.


6. The principal at a primary school in the eastern
village of Nata told Econoff that because of the
financial problems of parents, and the need to have
their children perform basic household
responsibilities, including tending cattle and sheep as
well as weed whacking, the absentee rate can climb as
high as 50 percent on a seasonal basis. The Senior
Education Secretary in Ghanzi said that, on average,
about 85 percent of school age children attended school
regularly. In addition, those children who stay in
school but do not pass the required examinations to
enter junior and then senior secondary school often do
not continue their education at alternative
institutions.

A Second Chance for Dropout Students
--------------

7. With the absentee and dropout rates so high, there
is a need for services and training for those students
who are not attending school. Several NGOs have
cropped up to address these issues, including Bana Ba
Lesetsi in Maun, which works with dropout students and
provides alternative education, and the Brigades
Development Trusts of Botswana (Brigades),which offers
vocational training to students who failed to reach
senior secondary school. The director of Bana Ba
Lesetsi, Ms. Lilian, described the circumstances of
many poor dropout children as extremely difficult,
facing domestic violence, drug abuse, alcoholism,
social estrangement, and unemployment among their
parents.


8. The Brigades, funded by a variety of sources,
including the government, private donors, and donor
government agencies, are spread throughout the country
and teach technical skills, such as basic computer
skills, animal husbandry and entrepreneurship training.
The MOE is currently considering restructuring the
Brigades to improve the provision of service to these
dropout students. A visit to the Brigade in the
southern village of Tsabong showed, however, that these
institutions are severely under-funded. The Brigade in
Tsabong has housing for only eight boys and eight

SIPDIS
girls. It trains about 30 students a year, but
received applications from more than twice that many.
The director of this Brigade, Mr. Dick Mweshi, told
Econoff that he can accept only 50 percent of the
applications due to budget constraints.

Education without Employment
--------------

9. Although many parents value education, the lack of
opportunities to gain employment in rural areas
undermines the hope for their children to move out of
poverty. The Deputy Council Secretary in Tsabong said
that when he graduated from the University of Botswana
(UB),he already had a job lined up with the
government. Today, he said, many UB graduates are
returning to Tsabong without jobs, squeezing the local
employment options for secondary school graduates and
dropouts. The lack of employment opportunities may
also be undermining the commitment of parents to
sending their children to school. In Nata, the Social
and Community Development Officer said that nearly 60
percent of parents are illiterate and unemployed and
fail to recognize the importance of a good education
for their children.

COMMENT
--------------

10. The social and economic difficulties of poor
parents undermine the GOB's efforts to meet its
education goals. With mounting national budget
constraints, the government's decision to reintroduce
school fees could mean a drop in attendance. The
government hopes that school fees will encourage
parents and teachers to take greater ownership of and
interest in their education. However, in 1987, when
the government abolished school fees, school enrollment
rose sharply, raising concerns that the opposite will
result when they are reintroduced next year. The GOB
needs help in providing the infrastructure required for
its schools, the absence of which impairs the quality
of education. Post is exploring options for supporting
school infrastructure needs through the Office of
Defense Cooperation's Humanitarian Assistance Fund.
AROIAN