ObservatoryICT

BOTSWANA

Overview

Botswana is a small, dynamic country with visionary leadership particularly in the sector of ICTs in education. Not only does it boast a liberal telecoms policy, its education and national ICT policies are linked to a broader economic vision for the country. Moreover, in practice, Botswana arguably boasts among the highest PC penetration in education institutions in Africa. As well, all junior and senior secondary schools and government tertiary institutions have PC labs. The government has committed financial resources to improve connectivity and to promote the educational use of ICTs.

Vision 2016 is a national manifesto of the Botswana government that articulates the long-term economic goals for the country including strategies to meet them. ICT is a key component of the first goal, which is to be an educated and informed nation. The long-term vision is that Botswana will enter the information age on an equal footing with other nations. The country will seek and acquire the best available information technology and become a regional leader in the production and dissemination of information. ICT is also a major focus of the country's economic agenda, the National Development Plan 9 (NDP9), and significant investment has recently been made in upgrading Botswana's communications networks to facilitate new technologies. In 2002 Botswana established a government ministry dedicated to ICT, the Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology.

Country Profile

Botswana is a sparsely populated country with just over 1.6 million people living in an area of 582,000 square kilometers. Since gaining independence in 1966, Botswana has performed exceptionally well economically, scoring one of the world's highest growth rates. It is now a middle-income country with a per capita GDP of $11,200 (2006). Diamond mining has fuelled much of the expansion and currently accounts for more than one third of the GDP and for 70% to 80% of export earnings. Tourism,  financial services, subsistence farming, and cattle raising are other key sectors. On the downside, the government must deal with high rates of unemployment and poverty. Unemployment was officially 23.8% in 2004, but unofficial estimates place it closer to 40%. Botswana has an English-speaking population with an illiteracy rate of about 22.76%. It also has one of the world's highest known rates of HIV/AIDS infection, but also one of Africa's most progressive and comprehensive programs for dealing with the disease. Early in 2002, Botswana became the first African country to offer free antiretroviral (ARV) therapy to everyone through the public health system.

The 2002 Index of Economic Freedom, released by the United States-based Heritage Foundation, rates Botswana's economy as the freest in Africa. In both 2001 and 2002 the international credit rating agencies Moody's and Standard & Poor's awarded Botswana the highest investment grade sovereign credit rating in Africa. The country was also rated the least corrupt in Africa (by Transparency International's 2002 corruption perception index) and the top country in Africa in terms of good governance (by the World Economic Forum in 2003). Botswana is also home to the headquarters of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), which is an alliance of 14 countries that exists to meet the region's social, economic, and political needs, and enables it to speak with a united voice. The effective use of ICTs within SADC is currently under consideration.

The Education System

Botswana's education system comprises seven years of primary education, three years of junior secondary education, and two years of senior secondary education. Each year at the primary level is a Standard, and each secondary level is a Form. Education in Botswana is free, but not compulsory. The Ministry of Education has authority over all of Botswana's educational structure except the University of Botswana. The structure mirrors that of the United Kingdom: there is universal access to primary and junior secondary school, but a process of academic selectivity reduces entrance to the senior secondary schools and university. However, educational curricula incorporate pre-vocational preparation in the junior and senior secondary schools. Primary education is the most important stage in the educational system, and the government strives to make it accessible to everyone. It is the joint responsibility of the Ministry of Education and the local government. One central objective of primary education is for children to be literate first in Setswana and then in English. Other goals are for children to become knowledgeable in mathematics and to have a command of science and social studies. From 1991 to 1997 the number of students completing the primary level and entering junior secondary increased from 65.0% to 98.5%.

The minimum entry age is six years in public schools and five years in private schools, and the maximum entry age in public schools is 10 years. However, flexibility is often exercised to enable pupils in remote areas to have access to primary education. Botswana, like all other countries in the world, invests heavily in the provision of secondary education. Currently there are 206 junior community secondary schools and 27 senior schools. Botswana also has six colleges of education, four of which offer the Diploma in Primary Education while two offer the Diploma in Secondary Education. Botswana also has one university.

Infrastructure

Botswana's ICT infrastructure is very good, but is not fully utilized. Internet usage, for example, stands as low as 5% of the population. There is also considerable disparity in terms of urban and rural access to ICT services. Challenges include the relatively high cost of PCs, the lack of electricity in many rural locations, and high charges for Internet usage. In addition, the Internet needs to be made more relevant to the Batswana, through the development of local on-line content tailored to the needs of the population.

High international bandwidth costs between USD$3,250 (satellite) to more than USD$6,000 (terrestrial) per 1 MB per month. For 128 kbps, BTC leased lines are between five and 20 times more expensive than in Namibia and South Africa. ICT is still not widely exploited by business in Botswana, although it is used extensively in the retail and mining sectors within foreign-owned companies. Botswana's ICT sector itself is small and generally focused on local market opportunities.

Table 3 provides a snapshot of the state of the national ICT infrastructure. Botswana ranks 56th out of 115 countries on the World Economic Forum's network readiness index, ahead of Namibia, Uganda, Mali, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe. The government is still in the process of liberalizing and enhancing regulation of the communications industry in a bid to attract investment as well as encourage innovation and competition. Efforts are being made to reduce communications costs in Botswana, mainly through further liberalization of the telecommunications industry. This should create more competition and ultimately result in lower tariffs for the consumer.

Botswana has a very small ICT workforce. A CSO labor survey from 1996 put the total size of

the workforce in the country at about one-half of one percent of the working population. Of that,

only 25% was female.

ICTs in Education

A government policy entitled the Revised National Policy on Education, released in 1994, highlighted the need for all learners to be taught computer skills at all levels of school. It also recommended the introduction of computer science as a subject option in senior secondary schools and computer awareness for the three years of junior secondary school. As a result, a new curriculum for computer awareness has been developed and piloted in 11 junior secondary schools. The curriculum aims to equip learners with computer skills that can be applied in all subjects. A strong focus is also placed on tertiary education, with proposals to increase university enrolment.

In the formal schools sector, all junior and senior secondary schools have fully equipped computer laboratories. Botswana has made a commendable effort to provide resources for its junior secondary schools; however, many schools struggle with their effective use. Computers, while available in most schools, often are not connected to the Internet, precluding their use in cross-curricular instruction. While libraries exist in most schools, they do not have current collections and do not yet operate as vibrant centers of learning. World Links has played an important role since 2000 in implementing ICTs in Botswana's community junior secondary schools (CJSS's) in partnership with the Ministry of Education. These schools are part of the community in terms of their operations and management. They have a board of governors that lays out policies within which the school operates.

The government has been committed to rolling out 20-PC laboratories including a server and networking to all 205 CJSS's. These labs include air conditioning, network trunking, and a dedicated circuit isolated from the direct mains. By 2002, 51 of the 205 laboratories were equipped with computers (15 by World Links and the rest by the government). All the government-equipped schools have 20 computers with a server and a local area network; the World Links schools do not have the same complement of equipment. Students involved in the World Links program were also linked to the collaborative projects of the International Education Resources Network (iEARN).

All government tertiary learning institutions in Botswana are well equipped with Internet enabled computers. The University of Botswana is the most advanced institution in the country with six faculties: business, education, engineering and technology, humanities, science, and social science. It offers a two-year diploma in computing studies and a four-year degree in computer science.

Botswana is planning to establish a second university that will also be centered on the development of ICT related skills and expertise. World leading programs in science, technology, engineering, and business will be at the core of the university's subject offerings. Botswana is also home to the National Institute of Information Technology, which offers diplomas and certificates in computing studies.

The adoption of the Revised National Policy of Education led to the creation of Botswana College of Distance and Open Learning (BOCODOL) in 1998, a semi-autonomous and statutory organization set up through an act of Parliament. BOCODOL and the Centre for Continuing Education of the University of Botswana are now the lead agencies in distance education and open learning. BOCODOL, with its headquarters at Gaborone, has five regional centers through which it offers school equivalency and vocational and management courses. It also has 50 study centers with an enrolment of around 21,000 in 2005. It is currently running an e-mail pilot project to improve learner support services through the use of the Internet and related services. It also plans to provide basic computer training and Internet-based e-mail basics and other software programs to open and distance learners. BOCODOL is also considering piloting the International Computer Driver's Licence course in its strategies to become a fully-fledged open and distance institute.

Part of the rollout strategy involves the purchase of the Promethean Interactive White Board hardware and software to teach practical subjects. The approach addresses queries involving teaching science subject practices through simulations. BOCODOL plans to convert print-based instructional materials to interactive CD-ROMs, explore the development of Web-based instructional materials, procure video instructional materials to supplement print, and venture into in-house production of educational videos once the construction of studio facilities is complete.

To boost BOCODOL's efforts, the Ministry of Education, in conjunction with the Department of Information Technology and the Ministry of Communications, Science and Technology (MCST), is working on the development and plans to establish an Education Data Network (EDN) that will provide educational institutions with access to Internet, e-mail, and Web-based teaching and learning throughout the country. This is already being piloted in four institutions through the provision of broadband access to the Internet through Botswana Television transponders. The ideal is based on gaining discounted rates for bona fide educational purposes and creating a separate super-fast EDN highway for educational use. MCST is also planning to link Botswana to the western continental undersea telecommunications cable that will provide high bandwidth to users. BOCODOL stands to gain from this infrastructure through its five regional offices strategically located in Gaborone, Kang,

Francistown, Palapye, and Maun. The physical infrastructure for the support of ODL and e-learning includes 50 community study centers located within existing secondary schools in the five BOCODOL regions. The 12 education centers include the Mochudi Media, Tlokweng National Resource, and Learning Resources Centers in the Colleges of Education, secondary schools, computer labs, and the campuses and sites of the University of Botswana.

Current ICT Initiatives and Projects

To date, a host of connectivity and ICT infrastructure projects have been underway. These are

outlined in Appendix A, while education-related initiatives are discussed below.