Improving commitment to basic education for the minorities in Botswana: A challenge for policy and practice

Pansiri, Nkobi Owen

doi:10.1016/j.ijedudev.2007.08.003

Cited by 22 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The RADP also provide food, toiletry and clothing packages to improve the school retention for students in RADP settlements. Despite this initiative, many children from these poor families perform poorly in national examinations and some leave schools before they complete their basic education programme (Republic of Botswana, 2004;Pansiri, 2008a;2008b;2011).…”

Section: Rads and Parental Involvementmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, both the Western (Epstein & Dauber, 1991;Desforges & Abouchaar, 2003;Harris & Goodall, 2006) and African literature (Sifuna, 2007;Pansiri, 2008a;Pansiri & Pansiri, 2011) are however, awash with evidence that PTAs are weak, and less active. Some barriers of parental participation in both PTAs and education of their children include negative attitude and lack of abilities of parents, poor work and health conditions, and weak leadership knowledge and skills of school heads and teachers (Greenwood & Hickman, 1991;Hoover-Dempsey & Sandler, 1997;Pansiri & Pansiri, 2011) and rurality and remoteness of the communities (Pansiri, 2008b). Greenwood and Hickman (1991) argue that to overcome the barrier, parents want heads of schools to treat them with respect and as equals.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Parents’ Participation in Public Primary Schools in Botswana: Perceptions and Experiences of Headteachers

Pansiri¹,

Bulawa²

2013

IES

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The idea of involving parents in the school system is universal and as old as the history and philosophy of education itself. This study investigated the public school headteachers' experiences and perceptions about the level of parental involvement in the public primary school system in Botswana. The theories guiding this study are that of Epstein's three spheres of influence and Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler's model of three level construct. A quantitative design through a medium of a questionnaire for data collection was employed. Out of a total 745 headteachers of public or government primary schools, 63.4% responded to the questionnaire. An important result of the study is that there is minimal parental support especially in rural and remote areas and in boarding primary school system in Botswana. Three recommendations of this study are, the creation of a parent education programme, a policy for the support and participation of parents of children in boarding schools, and further research to tap on the voices of the parents.

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Section: Rads and Parental Involvementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parents’ Participation in Public Primary Schools in Botswana: Perceptions and Experiences of Headteachers

Pansiri¹,

Bulawa²

2013

IES

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“…Although this has been a long standing problem for decades as indicated by researchers (Le Roux, 1999;Nyati-Ramahobo, 1999;Hays, 2002;Chebanne, 2002;Polelo, 2004;Pansiri, 2008;Bolaane & Saugestad, 2006) it is not rendered an urgent matter.…”

Section: Discussion Of Findings Multilingualism and Multiculturalism mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In fact, the festivals and celebrations bring the various groups together as Batswana and yet in the classrooms, learners are being driven out of the classrooms by lack of linguistic and cultural diversity. It has been proven beyond reasonable doubt through evidence from the classrooms that Setswana is driving learners away from education generally at the initial stages of learning (Le Roux, 1999;Polelo, 2004;Pansiri, 2008).…”

Section: Colonizing and Decolonizing The Ethnic Minoritiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Multilingualism and Multiculturalism in the Education System and Society of Botswana

Mokibelo¹

2015

UCER-B

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This study sought to examine how Botswana recognized and celebrated her linguistic and cultural diversity in society and in the education system. At various national celebrations, such as President's Day, National Cultural Day, and National Language Day, Botswana celebrated her linguistic and cultural diversity by inviting ethnic groups from almost all regions of the society to perform cultural dances, poetry, and music while the same dispensation was denied primary school learners from ethnic minority groups. The use of Setswana as the medium of instruction leaves out the learners' cultures, languages, and identities. Teachers and school management were the key participants in the study while learners' artefacts were examined. Data were collected through open-ended questionnaires and interviews and analysis of documents/programmes from the Ministry of Sports, Youth and Culture responsible for national celebrations. The findings indicated that learners were denied linguistic and cultural diversity of their languages and cultures in the classrooms while there was evidence of celebrating culture and linguistic diversity in society. This called for a change in perspective and attitude to extend linguistic and cultural diversity to the classrooms so that learners could become capable of shouldering responsibility of their lives and participate in the development of their country.

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“…'Deep rural' is a popular term referring to some of the remotest parts of the countryside (Chikoko 2008). The term 'rural area' is often used as a synonym of 'remote area' (Pansiri 2008). Pansiri further characterises a remote area as one that is informationally and infrastructurally underdeveloped with the people therein being marginalised from the socio-politico-economic activities run from the centre.…”

Section: Understanding'rurality'mentioning

confidence: 99%

School Management Teams’ Conceptualisation of School Assets in Addressing the Needs of Children Orphaned and Made Vulnerable by HIV and AIDS: Evidence from South Africa

Chikoko

Khanare

2012

Journal of Social Sciences

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This pa per explores School Management Teams' understanding of school a ssets as a means to respond to the needs of orphans and other children made vulnerable by AIDS in the context of rural schools in South Africa. The study employed a qualitative approach of data collection, using an art-based method, that is, collage to identify the School Management Teams' responses to the needs of children orphaned and made vulnerable by AIDS in a rural school context, which included their identification of assets (resources) within and outside the school context, and concerns about the mobilization and mapping out of assets u sing a collage. The School Management Teams' understanding of assets included material things such as food and clothes. The findings also show that School Management Teams relied more on outside assets than assets within the school. However, with the use of the collage, as a means to chart their way forward, School Management Teams engaged in a discussion and looked at the extent to which learners, teachers, School Management Teams, School Governing Bodies and outside community assets such as faith-based organisations, businesses and parents could be mobilized and mapped in order to effectively respond to the needs of orphans and other children made vulnerable by AIDS in a rural co ntex t.

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Improving commitment to basic education for the minorities in Botswana: A challenge for policy and practice

Cited by 22 publications

References 14 publications

Parents’ Participation in Public Primary Schools in Botswana: Perceptions and Experiences of Headteachers

Parents’ Participation in Public Primary Schools in Botswana: Perceptions and Experiences of Headteachers

Multilingualism and Multiculturalism in the Education System and Society of Botswana

School Management Teams’ Conceptualisation of School Assets in Addressing the Needs of Children Orphaned and Made Vulnerable by HIV and AIDS: Evidence from South Africa

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