University Botswana Journals
Not a member yet
1168 research outputs found
Sort by
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN BACKGROUND VARIABLES AND STUDENT READING ACHIEVEMENTS AT STANDARD 6 IN BOTSWANA
Get PDFUsing the 2011 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) data, the study examined theassociation between salient background variables across private and public schools and student readingachievement at Standard 6. The study uses descriptive statistics such as means and standard deviation todistinguish the students’ performance in private and public schools. Further analysis is performed using theregression model of background variables on students’ reading achievements. Results show that privateschools attain higher mean score compared to public schools. Students who are bullied more frequently atschool by their peers perform below their peers who had never been bullied. Parental guidance plays animportant role in students’ academic life. Class overcrowding, lack of safety at school, lack of usage ofcomputer during instruction, state of school building were found to be statistically insignificant in studentsreading performances. Frequency of bullying, inadequacy of home amenities, and lack of parental supportaffect public school students more than their private school counterparts
COLLABORATIVE ACADEMIC WRITING
Get PDFMany studies have examined the provision of academic writing development at tertiary level (Horowitz, 1986, Webb 1997, Pally 2001 and Zhu 2004, Magogwe & Nkateng 2017) but not focussing on collaborative writing. Students in Botswana seem to have difficulties appreciating the value of collaborative work in their writing classes and yet working in groups is an important mode of learning. This paper explores how students can benefit from collaborative approaches to academic writing. It will also share experiences of first year students at the University of Botswana (UB) when it comes to collaborative learning and teaching strategies in writing modules. Data for this study was collected from essays that students wrote about collaborative writing. The findings inform teachers of academic writing on ways of improving collaborative writing in their courses
A STUDY OF BATSWANA’S PERCEPTION OF ONE ANOTHER
Get PDFBotswana’s economic prosperity and its political stability have attracted people of different races into the country, some of whom have acquired Botswana citizenship, rendering the Motswana identity a somewhat pluralistic and multicultural label. However, within this broad national identity of a Motswana, several identities are often contested in the social arena in the form of labels that are used to describe and distinguish the different Batswana. These labels include Motswana (a citizen of Botswana) which is categorized into Motswana tota (real/genuine Motswana) or Motswana wa pampiri (naturalised Motswana). Others are described as Lekgoa (a white person), Motswakwa (foreigner) and Lekwerekwere (foreign African). We investigate the uses and inherent meanings of these labels using a questionnaire consisting of 12 main items administered to 156 Batswana in five different locations. Our findings show that these terms are used inclusively and exclusively to delineate prototypical Batswana from the outsiders, who also have graded membership and varied levels of acceptability based on social, cultural and economic factors. Our study has affirmed that the term “Motswana” describes groups of “peoples that mix but do not combine”, “living side by side, but separately, within the same political unit.”
Keywords: National Identity, immigrants, Motswana, ethnicity, prototype
Has Donor Funding Been Able to Change the HIV/AIDS Policy Agenda in Botswana?
Get PDFDespite optimism about the end of AIDS, the HIV response requires sustained financing globally into thefuture. Given flat-lining international aid, countries’ willingness and ability to shoulder this responsibility will be central to access to HIV care. Donor funding for HIV programmes has increased rapidly over the past years, raising questions about whether other health services in recipient-country health systems are being crowded out or strengthened. The recognition of the AIDS pandemic as an epochal crisis has led to a proliferation of international and donor organization’s now directly involved in governance, tracking and management. This paper examines funding of HIV/AIDS in Botswana and the relationship between foreign donors and Botswana government. It gives an illustration of how public- private partnerships approaches can be useful in the control of HIV/AIDS. It concludes by stating that since Botswana is going through an epidemiological transition and experiencing HIV/AIDS fatigue, new innovative health financing methods needs to be introduced
Training Doctors for Botswana, 1966 to 2017
Get PDFThis piece is a straight forward account of how Botswana trained its medical doctors from the country’s independence in 1966 to 2017, the latter constituting roughly the first decade after the University of Botswana (UB) started to enrol medical students in 2009. By 2008, Botswana was one of the five countries in Sub-Saharan Africa without a medical school. With a relatively high Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Botswana was able to meet some of her medical doctors needs through training doctors in regional and international medical schools and recruitment of expatriate doctors. This strategy was eventually deemed unsustainable, as many of those trained overseas did not return to work in Botswana. After a number of consultative steps, a presidential directive was issued in September 1998 to start a phased medical school at UB. To facilitate this directive a high ranking committee was established to coordinate the planning and resource mobilization for the project. The committee expedited the requisite infrastructural development as well as the development policies and regulations that would enable medical education and training. As part of the phased development of the medical school a four semester pre-medical programme was developed at UB after which students transferred for medical training in four South African and twoAustralian medical schools. Finally, a fully-fledged medical school at UB enrolled its first class of medical students and specialist trainees in 2009 and 2010. By October 2017 the school had graduated 171 doctors and 21 specialists, significantly increasing the number of Batswana doctors in the country, which stood at only 382 in 2012. Botswana’s brave decision to invest huge resources in training her doctors is already reaping dividends but there are grave challenges and serious concerns boding ill for the facility
Lake Ngami: A Fluctuating Lacustrine Fishery
Get PDFThis paper presents an overview of events leading up to a ban on fishing at Lake Ngami in 2015 and 2016. The ban was put into effect after fears were raised that the fish resource was being overexploited by illegal fishermen, often from foreign countries. The illegal fishing posed a threat to local fishermen who depend on the resource as an important component of their economic livelihood. Steps have been taken by the government of Botswana to curb illegal fishing including a ban on the exportation of dry fish from Ngamiland to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia. The ban on fishing was lifted on 1 December 2016 and only fishermen with valid licenses are permitted to fish. Suggested fisheries actions by the author are based on an understanding of the distribution and abundance of fish in the Okavango system
Does Ruretse Belong to Batlokwa?: What History Can Tell Us
Get PDFFirst a disclaimer. My wife and I live on and own a plot in an area that has come to be known as Ruretse. The name for this plot and all the others surrounding and including the ‘Khama farm’ are actually registered as portions of ‘Kenmoir’. After Botswana’s first president Sir Seretse Khama and his wife Ruth purchased Kenmoir, it became popularly known as Ruth and Seretse’s farm, ‘Ruretse’ for short
Botswana as an Island of Peace in a Troubled Sea
Get PDFYour Excellency President Masire, My dear brother Bishop Setlalekgosi, Noble People of Botswana, Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ. It is a great joy for me to begin this visit to your country. I wish to greet you in a true spirit of friendship and respect, and to assure you of my fervent prayers for the well-being and prosperity of the people of Botswana. I am grateful to President Masire and the Government for their kind invitation. I also wish to thank Bishop Setlalekgosi and all the Catholic faithful who have made this visit possible
Gobe Matenge (1926-2018)
Get PDFI received the news of Gobe ‘GW’ Matenge’s passing from his daughter, Tsompie, on 26 April 2018 with great sadness and sorrow. Over the years, since GW commissioned me to write his biography: Unearthing the Hidden Treasure: The Untold Story of Gobe Matenge my relationship with him and his family deepened. We became one family –his children my sisters and brothers
SCHOOL-COMMUNITY INTERRELATIONS AND SCHOOL DROPOUTS: TOWARDS DEVELOPING SUITABLE EDUCATION PROCESSES FOR REMOTE AREAS CHILDREN
Get PDFThis study carried out an analysis of the interplay between children’s life at school and in theircommunity as an effort to identify factors responsible for school dropouts. The study was guided by theSocio Ecological Model and it took place in one remote area in Botswana which is plagued by highrates of students’ dropouts from primary school. The findings identified a number of incompatibilitiesbetween the way the school operates and the community’s socio-cultural practices and economiclifestyle. The findings also pointed to a lack of relationship between the school and the communityleading to failure to meet each other’s needs and consequently resulting in school dropouts. This studyadds to the debate on standardized education processes and argues that school dropouts in nonmainstreamsettings can be curbed through adapting education practices to the needs of the localcommunities and empowering them to actively participate in school related issues