STORY: Botswana's OSEC program offers rural children opportunity for preschool education
SHOOTING TIME: April 11, 2024
DATELINE: April 30, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:16
LOCATION: Gaborone
CATEGORY: EDUCATION

SHOTLIST:
1. various of the school in Mosokotso, Botswana's southern district of Kweneng
2. SOUNDBITE (English): PATIENCE RAKENOSI, Teacher

STORYLINE:

Mosokotso land is located in Botswana's southern district of Kweneng, just five km outside Molepolole, one of the country's largest villages. In a small room in the yard of the Village Development Committee (VDC), students are reading out the names of the animals.

The children are being taught through the Out of School Education for Children (OSEC), a program run by the Out of School Education and Training (OSET) under the Ministry of Education and Skills Development.

The OSEC is a viable alternative to ensure Botswana's promise of education for all. It addresses the needs of specific groups of children who are out of school for various reasons, particularly those living in rural areas.

The program was piloted in 2014 and launched in 2020, targeting children between the ages of 4 and 18, with a focus on orphans, vulnerable children, school dropouts, children who have never had access to education due to socioeconomic issues, street children, and farm children.

Patience Rakenosi teaches at a preschool in Mosokotso land and holds a diploma in early childhood education from Botswana Open University. Her class comprises about 16 students, including 11 girls and five boys, all from the Mosokotso area and aged between 4 and 7.

SOUNDBITE (English): PATIENCE RAKENOSI, Teacher
"This class is made up of 16 children. We've got 11 girls and five boys. All of them are from this surrounding. Some of them, they have to walk almost five km from here to where they stay.
Despite the challenges that I face here, I can see the potential in my learners. Whenever I'm in class, they do listen, they respond very well."

From Monday to Friday, the school is open from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. local time, and the students are taught a variety of subjects such as nutrition, safety, hygiene, mathematics, and the alphabet.

Rakenosi emphasized that the project is a good initiative that provides opportunities for students who would not otherwise have access to school.

When the students attend school, they receive food that they would not usually receive at home, she added.

Mokachea Ofentse Mokachea, president of Mosokotso VDC, told Xinhua that about 40 percent of the children in the area under the age of 18 are out of school and have never attended school. As a result, he and the villagers approached the OSEC office to open a school for students in Mosokotso.

He emphasized the importance of opening a school because "education is light and provides information, and the illiteracy of Mosokotso contributes to the stagnation of the settlement."

The school started in February this year.

Bernadette Kabasiya, principal adult education officer of Kweneng District, said that Kweneng has about 28 learning centers and about 483 learners enrolled in the program. About 147 students have progressed and are doing well in the district.

However, the program faces challenges such as a lack of classroom space, unqualified staff in some locations, and a lack of teaching and learning resources.

Since independence in 1966, the government of Botswana has prioritized education and training. The education ministry has been allocated the largest share of the proposed 2024-2025 recurrent budget of 15.5 billion pula (about 1.1 billion U.S. dollars), or 24.4 percent of the total budget for the education sector alone.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Gaborone.
(XHTV)