17 preschools closed

With the growing importance of Early Childhood Education and Development (ECC&D) in Botswana, some unscrupulous people have taken advantage of this to operate pre-schools illegally. This was revealed at the second Ba Isago University’s International Research Conference on Early Childhood Education and Development in the 21st Century.

According to Deputy Director - Community Development at the ministry of local government and rural development Delic Sehunwe, close to 35 day-care centres are operating illegally in Gaborone. Spokesperson for the ministry, Masego Ramakgati, confirmed that 36 facilities were visited by council authorities after being notified about some unscrupulous activities in some. He confirmed that action has been taken against these schools. “Out of the 36 facilities visited, two of them have since approached the council and have since normalised their operations.

At least 17 have been closed due to non-compliance to set standards of running nursery schools. “I must admit that we have recorded 10 cases of false alarm as it was discovered that the 10 out of 36 facilities visited had complied. On the other hand it was also discovered during the operation hours that seven out of 36 facilities visited were not in operation,” clarified Ramakgati. He advised parents wishing to register their children for pre-school to visit any local authority or council within their localities for guidance.

Sehunwe explained that interventions being carried put to stem illegal operators include annual grants for the support and development of community owned centres and establishment of strategic partnerships for funding and technical support as well as continuous monitoring of centres for compliance. Assistant Minister of Basic Education, Moiseraele Goya said their wish is to target 100 percent early child care and pre-primary enrolment to enhance access to pre-school education, especially in rural areas.