Youth & Education in Botswana

Nozizwe W. Ntesang
Botswana

Botswana, my country of birth and origin, is located in Southern-Africa right above South Africa. It is home to around two million people and is known mostly for diamond exports and breath-taking tourist attractions – both which help to immensely sustain our ever-growing economy. 

The proceeds from the diamonds are generous enough to among other things; provide free basic education to all citizens from primary school to secondary school and even varsity. For this, the government should be applauded because it is not every African country that is able to impart such a privilege to its citizens. 


Education is indeed an imperative tool that, if well received, has the ability to take one to dizzy heights. It enables them to succeed and emancipate themselves from a poverty-stricken life that often befalls a lot of African lives.  It is especially important, in my opinion, that education reaches the girl child. This is because the patriarchal nature of our African society, more often than not, has tried to reduce a girl’s livelihood to household duties. I believe it is time we did away with such thinking and made education accessible to both boys and girls. Fortunately in my country, education is equally accessible to both.

As a young person, I am extremely grateful to my government for availing education to me but there are a couple of issues that I believe need to be addressed in order to make the education regime even more beneficial to those to follow;

1. There is a need for a diverse and more internationally competitive syllabus.
2. Teachers need to get paid more money in order to ensure that they are motivated.
3. Entrepreneurial skills need to be instilled from an early age so as to inculcate a self-reliant mentality.

The above is not an exhaustive list and I looked to other young Batswana to hear their views on the education system in our country. I’d like to thank them tremendously for partaking in the interview and having an interest in their own development. 

The future is ours for the taking.

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