Educational Development in Botswana: A Plural Heritage

Abstract

Botswana (formerly Bechuanaland) is a country of considerable realized and potential mineral wealth in a traditional, cattle-based economy, located in southern Africa. The country is twice the size of the United Kingdom and the same as France and Kenya. It is situated on a vast tableland with a mean altitude of 3,300 feet above sea level and receives an average rainfall of about eighteen inches. Botswana is bordered on the south and west by the Republic of South Africa, on the northeast by Zimbabwe, on the west by Namibia/ South West Africa, and on the north by the Caprivi Strip and Zambia. The country is completely landlocked, without direct access to the ocean. Botswana's land area, four-fifths of which is covered by the Kalahari Desert, contains a population close to one million people who are concentrated on the Gaborona-Francistown Corridor. About 75 percent of the population is rural and 40 percent of the agricultural households have few, if any, adult males. Rapid urbanization has led to a forecast that by 1991 one-third of the population will be urban even though stringent measures are being taken to raise the rural living standards. The water shortage, poor land, and lack of skilled manpower will continue to cause concern for decades to come. This article traces the principal contributions of informal, missionary, ethnic-controlled education, and colonial-administered education in Botswana and examines their influence on the country's educational development. A review of literature shows that detailed letters, reports, and records on Botswana have been carefully preserved and might be