No school sports anytime soon
The resumption of school sport in Botswana has been a complex and on-going process, with multiple stakeholders involved. The Ministry of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development have stated that they are still in the midst of negotiations and consultations, and that they hope to provide an update in early 2024. However, there is still no definitive timeline or conclusion on when school sport will be able to resume.
In a recent address to the Botswana National Sports Commission, the Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development, Tumiso Rakgare, stated that the government is engaged in ongoing negotiations to facilitate the return of school sport.
He acknowledged that this is taking some time, but expressed optimism that progress is being made. In the meantime, he praised the efforts of sports associations of working with BNSC in providing opportunities for young people to participate in sports.
“The delays are not as a result of lack of desire on the part of government but more to do with the democratic process that we have to follow. By way of update, we have had a lot of engagements with lot of stakeholders, including the unions, whose proposed options are unaffordable to MYSC,” Rakgare said.
“Most recently there have been on-going negotiations between the teachers' structures, the DPSM and other entities, which we hope will result in something more tangible in early 2024,” he added.
According to the Minister, the expected increase in funding in 2024 will allow the government to support the BNSC in delivering grassroots sports programs for young people. He emphasized that without such programs, the future of sport in Botswana would be in jeopardy.
The national sport associations have been increasingly concerned about the prolonged suspension of school sport, and they had a meeting scheduled with the Minister of Youth Empowerment, Sport and Culture Development on December 20th to discuss the issues affecting them.
The concerns of the associations center around the long-term implications of the lack of sports programs for school-aged children, which has the potential to negatively impact the future of sport in Botswana.