University Botswana Journals
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Tribute to Prof Harold John Cooke (1927-2019)
Get PDFProf Harold John Cooke passed away in Wales on 16 April 2019, a day after his 92nd birthday. The Mancuniandid his Bachelors Honours degree at Manchester University in 1948, followed by Masters at theCambridge University in 1951. He earned his PhD at the old University of East Africa in 1969. Since 1967Prof Cooke has over forty-seven papers in journals with some presented at conferences or symposia. Hewas one of the founding members of the Kalahari Conservation Society (KCS) in Botswana, a member ofthe Botswana Society and a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
The Presidential ‘Rampeechane’ Rallying Cry: The Political Economy of Covid-19, Anti-Indian Rhetoric and the Discourse of Citizen Economic Empowerment in Botswana
Get PDFThe government of Botswana, like other governments worldwide, spent 2020 grappling with the Covid-19pandemic. As part of the war against the contagion, President Mokgweetsi Masisi of Botswana instituteda Covid-19 Relief Fund for members of the public, the civil society and the businesses community tomake contributions in cash or kind. However, in early April he launched a broadside against an unnamedsection of the business community for what he said was its unwillingness to contribute to the Fund despiteits members having come to Botswana dirt-poor, and made a massive fortune in the country. Soon asection of the citizenry pointed an accusing finger at the Indian community as being Masisi’s target. Itwas strongly claimed that the Indian community had ‘captured’ the country’s political leadership and inthe process frustrated the government’s longstanding policy of citizen economic empowerment (CEE),rendering it just a slogan. In other words, what was intended to be the indigenisation of the economybecame its ‘Indianisation’. This paper traces the anti-Indian sentiment to some quarters in the Britishcolonial government and local tribal leadership before Botswana’s independence in 1966. The impact of theCovid-19 globally and on Botswana in particular is discussed, after which the focus shifts to the contributionand different approaches of three relatively young Batswana; Kgosi Ngakaagae, Bissau Gaobakwe andAtasame ‘ATI’ Molemogi, in the debate on CEE derailment and the Indian ‘othering’ and ‘scapegoating’.The paper concludes that government’s drive for CEE, which was given the impetus by Covid-19, is likelyto experience severe challenges and therefore have inconsequential impact on meaningful empowermentof the indigenes owing to the culture of entitlement, poor work ethic, entrenched elite corruption, and ‘statecapture’
CHALLENGES STUDENT TEACHERS EXPERIENCE WHEN PREPARING AND IMPLEMENTING MICROTEACHING LESSONS AT THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF LESOTHO.
Get PDFIn this paper, a qualitative research approach was used to design the study which investigated the challenges experienced by student teachers during micro teaching in the Faculty of Education at the National University of Lesotho. Data for this study was collected during the supervision of these students while carrying out pre-microteaching activities such as interpreting the syllabus, planning and rehearsing for their sessions. Data was also collected from students during their oral presentations and from their written materials. The information collected was recorded in a form of field notes which were later transcribed and analysed using a thematic approach. According to the findings of this study, the main challenges faced by the student teachers in the microteaching activities is using English as a medium of communication, interpretation of the syllabus, selection of teaching methods, over and under planning and organisational strategies. It is recommended that student teachers be discouraged from using non-conventional language, use both curriculum and syllabus when planning a lesson, spread their knowledge on different teaching methods and plan compile their microteaching portfolios way ahead of time.
 
TEACHER JOB SATISFACTION AND TEACHER EXPERIENCE AS PREDICTORS OF STUDENTS’ MATHEMATICS PERFORMANCE
Get PDFAcademic performance is a complex concept that depends on many factors, including school values, learners’ commitment, employee satisfaction as well as teacher characteristics such as teaching experience, gender, and educational background. The purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which teacher satisfaction and teacher experience predict students’ performance in Mathematics in Botswana junior secondary schools. This study adopted a quantitative correlational design, using hierarchical sequential regression analysis. Secondary data of 2015 from the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Subjects for Botswana was used. A total number of (N = 5964) Form Two students were sampled from all the junior secondary schools across Botswana. The findings showed that both teachers’ satisfaction and teaching experience are significant predictors of students’ performance in Mathematics. These findings imply that the students’ performance could be determined by both the level of teacher job satisfaction and their teaching experience. Interestingly, this study uniquely revealed that teacher experience is a better predictor of students’ performance in Mathematics and teacher job satisfaction. The findings in this study serve as a reference point to all relevant stakeholders in basic education, especially those involved in policy formulation and those with interest in improving students’ academic outcomes in Mathematics
RETIRED PROFESSIONALS AS A CAREER RESOURCE TOOL FOR SCHOOLS IN BOTSWANA: EFFECTIVE PARTNERSHIPS IN EDUCATION
Get PDFCareer resource tools may appear expensive to schools in Botswana moving towards a knowledge-based economy. However, a partnership between retired professionals and education in career development is identified as a cost effective, innovative, and impactful strategy towards addressing this need. A synthesis of studies on retired professionals conducted and discussed in this article indicates benefits that can be attained from utilising retirees’ competencies to develop career skills of children in schools. Continuity in learning, reflection and changing one’s career life is observed through an integration of Theory of Continuity (TC), Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) and the life design of the Career Construction Theory (CCT); theories which guided this research study. Sampling was from articles dated 2005 to 2019 and the search key phrase was ‘retired professionals.’ A criterion for inclusion and exclusion was developed and used for sampling purposes. The findings were varied and included evidence of engagement, helping other people, and skilled activities by retirees post retirement. More engagements and skilled activities, which are associated with retirees professional expertise or skills acquired preceding retirement are highlighted
Sephiri Molosiwa: A Mongwato Royal Still Going Strong at 102 Years of Age
Get PDFIt is not every day that one learns of someone who has lived for more than a century and yet all their sensesare still intact; and, more than that, they are even technologically savvy enough to be accessible througha mobile phone. Thanks to a Mokaa/Mophuting man who also happens to be my ‘great grandson’, RreJohnson Mpho-a-Mmolaatlou McDonald-a-Seema also known (at Maalosong/Maboleding, in Serowe) asJohnson Mpho-a-Mmolaatlou McDonald-a-Mokudinyane-a-Molosiwa-a-Kgama I. I listened to the constant‘whisper’ of: ‘Sephiri this . . . Sephiri that . . .’ As Johnson’s ‘great grandmother’ I had no other optionbut to listen, and eventually act. Seatholo I -a-Nthokwa-a-Phate-a-Kokwana I-a-Malesela-a-Motsumi (waMorabana) after whom I was named (as the third or fourth) is an ancestral grandmother to MmolaatlouMcDonald Seema (Johnson’s father) from his maternal side
Kevin Shillington, Patrick van Rensburg: Rebel, Visionary and Radical Educationist. A Biography
Get PDFWhatever you thought you knew about Patrick van Rensburg will be a small fraction of the life so thoroughlydocumented here. Biographer Kevin Shillington, familiar to these parts as an Education and Historylecturer at the University of Botswana in the 1980s, publisher of key works on the nineteenth centuryBatlhaping, and author among others of the long-selling History of Africa (Macmillan, Red Globe, nowin its 4th edition) brings his research skills and knowledge of the region to deliver a first-class rendition ofone of Botswana’s signal figures in the late colonial and early postcolonial period. Shillington’s account isbased on extensive familiarity with persons who knew or worked with Van Rensburg, his autobiographicaland other writings, and a firm grounding in the major events unfolding in Southern Africa when Patrickmade his mark. The publication is sponsored by The Foundation for Education with Production (FEP),among Van Rensburg’s many progeny
David Ration Lekoba, The Chronicles of a Broken Heart
Get PDFThe Chronicles of a Broken Heart, by the upcoming writer and educator, David R. Lekoba, is a deeply andtouching written novel, which tells the story of a poor village boy transitioning into a young man amidsttrials and utmost tribulations of life. To discover and realise who one is and what one’s purpose is in lifehas not been an easy task for an African child Kago, the main character who is raised in an extended family.Poverty, disease and family disintegration can build or break strong childhood foundation that forms thevery fabrics of early human life. This school of thought is beautifully woven into the story through thebattles of family feuds, different forms of abuse, HIV/AIDS in the family and favouritism that Kagoendures growing up. The unconditional love experienced and enjoyed from his maternal grandmother helpmould him to be a morally grounded child. It is this good behaviour, his intelligent mind in school and hisimpoverished background that win him affection and care from a foreign family, a Zimbabwean couplewho are teachers in Tonota, Botswana. The ‘disappearance’ of his mother and the ultimate death of hisdear grandmother are critical to his rather confused teenage development, making possible the transitionof good moral standing to self-destruction
Towards Monitoring the Effects of Artificial Water Provision on Mammalian Species Occupancy in Semi-Arid North-Western Botswana
Get PDFWater is often the most limiting resource in semi-arid environments, but many such ecosystems aremanaged through artificial water provision that can alter the distribution and composition of the mammaliancommunity. In addition, tourist lodges in semi-arid environments often establish artificial water points toattract wildlife for visitors without fully understanding the repercussions for sympatric mammals. One suchecosystem exists in north-western Botswana, where we deployed 24 camera traps across a 100 km2 gridcentred on a tourism lodge to assess occupancy levels of seven mammal species during the hot dry seasonsbefore and after provision of artificial water was initiated by that lodge in November 2015. Occupancylevels of aardvark, brown hyena and duiker declined following artificial water provision, whereasoccupancy levels of gemsbok, kudu, porcupine and steenbok increased. For some species, occupancy and/or detection varied with habitat type, but none showed varying occupancy in relation to distance to water.No clear patterns predicting species response were detected, but most herbivore species showed increasingoccupancy, in keeping with previous studies that found an initial population increase following artificialwater provision. Overall results were inconclusive, most likely because of the short study period that couldonly encompass one dry season before and after initiation of artificial water provision. Long-term studiesof how artificial water provision affects mammalian communities in semi-arid environments would bebeneficial considering predictions of extreme rainfall patterns and high temperatures linked to climatechange, such as those anticipated in Botswana. This study provides a baseline and recommendations tobenefit future research into the effects of artificial water provision in semi-arid environment