Tswanapedia

02/10/2025

Are we doing enough to recognize all forms of basic education in Botswana?

In Botswana, many private learning centres and even homeschooling pioneers like Dawn Bell, the first professional homeschool since 2013 operate in a legal grey zone. Our Education Act emphasizes registered schools but leaves little room for alternative models that parents are increasingly seeking.

Meanwhile, in South Africa, the law is clearer: independent schools are registered provincially, and home education is formally recognized under the South African Schools Act. This doesn’t eliminate challenges, but it legitimizes innovation. Schools like Curro, Spark Schools, and Reddam House, as well as recognized homeschooling associations, thrive within a legal framework.

It’s time Botswana updated its laws to reflect today’s realities. Families and institutions should not be left in uncertainty; they deserve recognition, support, and regulation that both safeguards quality and embraces innovation.

Education is changing. Shouldn’t our laws change with it?

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02/10/2025

On 2 October 1939, Kelebantse Sebele a Sechele II, known as Sebele II, passed away. He was Kgosi (Chief) of the Bakwena tribe, serving de jure from 1918 until his death. Sebele II succeeded his father, Sechele II.

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01/10/2025

1 October 1848!
David Livingstone baptises Sechele I of the Kwena people.

01/10/2025

From Colony to Country – Independence Spirit

🇧🇼 From Bechuanaland to Botswana.

✊🏾 Independence was declared on September 30, 1966.
🎉 But the celebration lives on into October 1st — every year.

01/02/2024

Did you know?
"Just after Botswana’s independence in 1966, it was discovered that of the 439 small shops registered, only 31% were citizen-owned"

12/01/2024

Did you know!
The Global State of Social Connections report, launched on November 1, 2023, revealed that 50% of Batswana reported being lonely against a global average of 24%.

12/01/2024

Did you know!
The Youth Development Fund (YDF) was introduced in the 2009-10 fiscal year; a program for economic empowerment designed to help young people who aspire to start their own businesses by providing 50% grant and 50% loan funding.

10/01/2024

Botswana's Independent Electoral Commission's elections promotion song performed by Joe Morris. The video first appeared on Botswana Television during 2009 elections. A song that compelled many to go register to vote with a feeling of hope for a better future.

10/01/2024

General elections will be held in Botswana in 2024 to elect a new National Assembly as well as local councils. Did you know, ever since the first election in 1965, the Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) has held a majority of seats in the National Assembly and thus governed alone for 57 years, making Botswana a dominant-party system.

02/05/2023

Did you know!
Somarelang Tikologo was initiated in 1991 by three University of Botswana lecturers, due to a concern about the state of Gaborone's environment. The organization aims to promote sustainable environmental protection by educating, demonstrating, and encouraging best practices in environmental planning, resource conservation, and waste management in Botswana.

More on Somarelang Tikologo

18/04/2023

"Democracy does not come about because the leaders want it to and is not likely to come about spontaneously unless the forces
working for it are properly organised. One such force, and one that is critical to a democratic order, is civil society. Civil society, where it exists and is strong enough, provides checks and balances on the activities of the state. Civil society ‘involves citizens acting collectively in a public sphere to express their interests, passion and ideas, exchange information, achieve mutual goals, make demands on the state and hold state officials accountable’. Thus, civil society
refers to that realm of social relations and public participation that resides between the family and the state and is given expression in the activities of non-state organisations such as religious organisations; social clubs; social movements; free press and independent media; trade unions; professional associations; employers’ organisations, trade unions, the media, and other civil society bodies."
Mogalakwe & Sebudubudu

17/04/2023

"According to Carroll and Carroll (2004, p 333) ‘civil society was almost non-existent in Botswana in the late 1980s, but it developed extraordinarily rapidly in both size and influence [in the 1990s]. By the turn of the century, Botswana had an active, vibrant and influential civil society.’ Civil society grew and developed to such an extent that ‘by the end of 1999, [it] consisted of approximately 150 indigenous NGOs, around 50 Community Based Organizations, some 23 trade unions, and a handful of business associations’ (Carroll and Carroll 2004, p 352)."
Monageng Mogalakwe and David Sebudubudu in Trents in State-Civil Society Relations in Botswana
Photo credit: The Snapper