Botswana Teaching Professionals Council (BOTEPCO) has commenced its next round of stakeholder engagements, this time with Local Government Councils countrywide. The first engagement started with Gaborone City Full Council meeting which was held on 22nd March, 2024 at the Council Chambers in Gaborone.
During his address, the Registrar Dr. Raphael Dingalo emphasized that in sharing the BOTEPCO mandate they took into consideration the Councillors importance as the community leadership considering that they deal with different stakeholders in the various communities they lead, including BOTEPCO’s main stakeholders being the teachers.
Dr. Dingalo highlighted that teachers link together students, other teachers, school administrators, families, and community members to foster the learning success and healthy development of their students, citing International Policy Briefs which notes as follows; when schools, parents, families, and communities work together to support learning, students tend to earn higher grades, attend school more regularly, stay in school longer, and enrol in higher level programs.
He also shared the five areas that the BOTEPCO is prioritising in setting up so as to professionalise the teacher fraternity being; Stakeholder Engagement, Registration and Licensing System; gazetting the regulations, Teaching Standards, Code of Ethics and Continuous Professional Development Framework.
The GCC Deputy Mayor Honorable Oduetse Tautona, greatly appreciated BOTEPCO’s initiative of engaging them and the professional conduct displayed by the BOTEPCO staff. This was further reinforced by other Councilors during the question and answer session.
Honourable Councillor Mrs. Motamma Horatius commended BOTEPCO for doing a good job in focusing on teacher professionalism as it will propel the education sector and improve learner results and contribute significantly towards human capital development in Botswana and improvement in the quality of education in general.
Honourable Councilor Mr. Lotty Manyepetsa applauded the Registrar and his team for honouring them as Councilors, encouraging BOTEPCO to work with teacher unions and other relevant stakeholders including the Ministry of Education and Skills Development in transforming the teaching fraternity, while the Honourable Councillor Mr. Oarabile Motlaleng buttressed andwas also thankful at the gesture to update them. Amongst other questions, he inquired whether there will be a preliminary test that teachers would have to take, as registration entry requirements. The response was that BOTEPCO is still engaging on the matter and will give an update to be communicated in due course.
For her part, Gaborone District Commissioner Ms. Dintle Setlhotlhe encouraged BOTEPCO to ensure that the teaching fraternity is involved and plays a significant role in the development of teaching standards and code of ethics that will propel their sector to greater heights.
The Botswana Teaching Professional’s Council (BOTEPCO) is a newly established Body Corporate mandated to professionalize teaching by: maintaining professional and ethical standards; registering and licensing teachers; advocating for the teaching profession amongst others
