Gaborone — A consultation workshop to prepare the country for the Sub Saharan Africa regional conference on the Post-2015 Education Agenda scheduled for February 9-11, 2015 in Kigali, Rwanda convened in Gaborone on Monday, December 15.
The Ministry of Education and Skills Development (MoESD) held the workshop in conjunction with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Secretary of reforms in MoESD, Ms Taboka Nkhwa said the purpose of the preparatory consultation was to prepare for the intergovernmental negotiations by ensuring that the key national stakeholders were fully briefed on the proposed post-2015 education agenda.
“The consultation gives the opportunity to discuss the proposal from the stakeholders’ national perspective as well as to undertake first reflections on implementation requirements at national level,” she said.
Ms Nkhwa noted that UNESCO advocates for a single, clearly-defined, global education agenda, which should be an integral part of the broader international development framework. Education must be a stand-alone goal in the broader post-2015 development agenda, she added.
Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) director of research and policy development, Dr Moreetsi Thobega who is also a UNESCO Education Sector Committee member said that the workshop was ideal because Botswana’s input was needed when the international community discusses the importance of education in the post-2015 international agenda.
Some of the issues discussed included reflections on proposed targets and recognising the worldwide movement for Education For All (EFA), and the education-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are unlikely to be achieved by 2015, and acknowledged the continued relevance of the EFA agenda.
Presenting on EFA (A case of Botswana), Dr Moreetsi Thobega said Botswana was fairing dismally in early childhood care and education and there was need to increase access to quality early childhood education.
The report also saw a need to increase youth and adult literacy and numeracy rates at a proficiency level sufficient to participate in society and for further learning, with particular attention to girls and women and the most marginalised.
The outcomes of the national consultation wouldserve as a basis for the discussions of the regional conference including views and opinions of national stakeholders on the proposed targets of the post-2015 education agenda in the perspective of national challenges and priorities in education.
Source : BOPA
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