Second Chance Education in Botswana: Implementing a holistic approach based on the botho philosophy to empower marginalized youth in the Kweneng District

Abstract

This paper reports on a project initiated by the non-governmental organization Springboard Humanism (SBH) based in Molepolole, the capital of the Kweneng District of Botswana. The project aims to empower young marginalized women, particularly indigenous BaSarwa and BaKgalagari, who dropped out of school at Junior Certificate Examination (JCE) level (Year 10). The modus operandi at SBH is botho, an African philosophy emphasizing caring, sharing, showing respect and compassion. Participatory action research was conducted with 60 purposively sampled students and other stakeholders who were asked to participate. The study used interviews, observations and document analysis to generate data. The project had been running for three years (2012–2014) at the time of the study and has shown potential to generate positive outcomes and to empower marginalized ethnic minority learners, especially females. Participants in the project have managed to pass the JCE which enables them to enter senior secondary school or vocational education. It is recommended that Botswana's education system adopt this pathway to mainstream education to help ethnic minority youth improve their academic performance.

Community engagement with a postcolonial, African-based relational paradigm

“…Africans suffer from loss of ontological security. Ontological security is defined as ‘… the confidence that most human beings have in the continuity of their self-identity’ (Khudu-Petersen and Mamvuto, 2016: 59). This has resulted in an internalised unidirectional borrowing on knowledge from the West, and a ‘captive mind’ (Alatas, 2004) that is prone to uncritical imitation of Western research paradigms.…”

Experience of youth in the National Senior Certificate second chance matric re-write programme

“…More so, consideration of the psychological well-being, emotional and physical well-being is given under second chance education program though this is dependent on a student to-student basis. 8 Young people for a various factors are not always forthcoming when second chance education programs are introduced hence in some cases professionals like social workers are used to enroll students. The option of the mentioned professional is valuable as they can not only recruit but, in some cases, identify the barriers that stand in the way of some learners.…”

Alternative Education and Return Pathways for Out-of-School Youth in Sub-Saharan Africa

“…Some second chance models also use volunteer teachers to teach OOSY, especially those that are run as a project. Khudu-Petersen and Mamvuto (2016) indicated that the SBH project in Botswana relies on volunteer teachers as it cannot afford to pay permanent teachers due to funding challenges. These volunteer teachers are paid an allowance for transport and other basic needs.…”

“…NAMCOL (2016) reported that only 48% of students contacted tutors through telephone, 11% used radio tutorials, 6% used audio recorded information, 4% used video recorded information, and 2% used email and toll-free lines under the NAMCOL program. Khudu-Petersen and Mamvuto (2016) reported that the SBH program provides ICT training to resident OOSY in addition to tutorials in nine JCE curricula. ICT skills provided to OOSY help them to adapt to changing economic and social environments (Petersen and Mamvuto, 2016).…”

“…Khudu-Petersen and Mamvuto (2016) reported that the SBH program provides ICT training to resident OOSY in addition to tutorials in nine JCE curricula. ICT skills provided to OOSY help them to adapt to changing economic and social environments (Petersen and Mamvuto, 2016).…”