1. Introduction
Botswana Extension College was established in 1973 and offered courses at Junior and
Senior Secondary levels through distance teaching using print, radio and face-to-face
media. The programme was aimed at teaching a wide range of subjects including subjects
that did not lead to examinations.
The aims of the college were:
- To develop courses at Secondary level for distance learning.
- To help relate distance learning to educational needs regarding Botswana's programmes of
rural development. Botswana Extension College was used by the Government to expand the
availability of Secondary level education in the country.
Out of Botswana Extension College was born the Department of Non-Formal Education (DNFE)
in October 1978. It occupied its new and permanent premises in 1979. The programmes under
the DNFE are Distance Education, National Literacy Programme and Home Economics.
2. The National Literacy Programme (NLP)
The National Literacy Programme was launched in 1980 as one of the major operations of
the Department on Non-Formal Education. The main objectives as conceived then were:
- to eradicate illiteracy to enable an estimated population of 250,000 (40% of 15 - 45
year ago group) to become literate in Setswana and numerate within a period of 5 years;
i.e. 1980 - 1985;
- to enable the NLP participants to apply knowledge gained in developing their cultural,
social and economic life;
- to enable participants to perform community duties on the one-hand and to exercise the
rights and obligations of citizenship on the other;
- to enable participants to develop nationalistic, self-reliant and democratic concepts of
work and life;
- to cultivate self-development by the participants and to help them continue to develop
abilities and attitudes which would enable them to contribute constructively to society.
The programme was conceived as a development project with a life span of five years.
However, experience from the summative evaluation of the project clearly demonstrated that
adult literacy should be viewed as a long-term activity, just like other educational
interventions.
Since the programme started in 1981, it has experienced a remarkable achievement in
terms of enrollments even though the programme has not achieved its objective of
eradicating illiteracy. Presently the programme runs literacy classes for about 40,000
learners registered in about 3,000 groups across the country. These learners are taught by
volunteers who are paid a honorarium of P2.00 (U.S. $1) per session.
A number of smaller programmes and activities are being carried out under the NLP and
as part of its development for post literacy purposes. These include:
- the Home Economics programme, which as been merged under the post literacy income
generating projects. Efforts continue to be made to link the National Literacy Programme
with functional skills and income generating activities and projects. This idea has come
of age now and there seems to be no need to continue justifying the need for initiating
these projects. Even the evaluation report calls for the establishment of a position of
Project Officer. In addition to income generating this programme offers courses on skills
leading to household, child care, nutrition and personal development.
- Village Reading Rooms.
- Materials Development.
- English as a Second Language (although not yet formally launched).
2.1 Use of Radio in NLP
The radio in this programme is used to disseminate information of activities, plans and
current affairs related to the programme. Radio is not actually used to teach or give
instruction as is done in the Distance Education Programme. The main method of instruction
in the NLP is the face-to-face method carried out by literacy group leaders (volunteers)
in the villages. The methods used to disseminate information differ according to the
nature of information to be given. They include interviews, drama, folk media, spot
announcements, etc.
3. Radio in Distance Education
The JC radio programme started in the 1970s, soon after the establishment of Botswana
Extension College (BEC). Radio at this level is a medium of instruction. The DNFE uses
what is known as the three-way teaching method of print, radio and face-to-face
instruction to reach students who study by the distance education method, whenever they
are in Botswana. Print is the main medium while radio and face-to-face methodologies are
supplementary media. Radio is used in teaching the following subjects:
Bookkeeping and Commerce
English
History
Human and Social Biology
Geography
Mathematics
Setswana
Students are also counselled through the radio.
3.1 Problems
We have experienced the following problems in teaching by radio.
3.2 Reception
There are still parts of Botswana where reception is very poor. In such places students
do not benefit from the radio lessons as they cannot raise the Radio Botswana signal.
3.3 Ownership
There are students who have no access to radios even though many households have
radios. Another problem related to ownership, especially in rural areas is that some of
those who possess radios often run out of batteries, and thus do not benefit from the
lessons.
3.4 Broadcast schedules
Some of the students have complained about the broadcast schedules. The lessons are
broadcast on Wednesday mornings at 6.10 and repeated on Friday evening at 20.00 hours.
These times are not suitable to some. Botswana has only one central radio station and, as
a result, not every programme receives a suitable time slot for its target audience. This
is one of the problems raised by the Radio Listenership Survey Report of 1988.
4. Conclusion
Disseminating information or teaching by radio reaches people in the shortest possible
time but with the problems that we experience, there will still be people who will not
benefit from educational radio. However, the Government is doing its best to improve the
situation.
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