Botswana’s classrooms are producing graduates faster than its economy can employ them, labour experts warned this week, calling for urgent reforms to bridge the growing gap between education and employment.
The stark assessment came during a heated panel discussion hosted by the Botswana Federation of Public Sector Unions (BOFEPUSU) under the theme “Unemployment as a Violation of Human Rights: Need for Urgent Action.” The event brought together government representatives, opposition figures and labor analysts to confront Botswana’s persistent job crisis.
Independent labor analyst Edward Tswaipei delivered the most scathing critique, comparing Botswana’s education system to “a factory producing goods nobody wants to buy.” He noted that while enrollment rates have climbed steadily since 2010, nearly 20 percent of vocational graduates remain unemployed a year after completing their studies.
“The imbalance starts in our secondary schools,” Tswaipei explained. “Nearly 30 percent of students drop out before Form 5, flooding the retail sector with underskilled workers while we simultaneously overproduce university graduates for non-existent white-collar jobs.”
Government representatives countered with plans for sweeping reforms. Dr. Patrick Molutsi, representing the ruling coalition’s education task force, outlined a three-pronged strategy: revamping technical education, creating new green economy jobs, and positioning Botswana as a regional labor exporter.
“We’re not just training youth – we’re building a pipeline,” Molutsi said, detailing partnerships with Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) institutions. “Our new national skills registry will match graduates with opportunities abroad while we develop domestic sectors like renewable energy.”
The proposals drew skepticism from opposition figures. Botswana Congress Party representative Sennye Obuseng dismissed the plans as “rearranging chairs on the Titanic” without addressing Botswana’s lack of economic diversification.
“Until we move beyond diamonds and develop manufacturing and agro-processing, these are just stopgap measures,” Obuseng argued, though he praised the government’s recent P10 billion economic stimulus package as “a step in the right direction.”
BOFEPUSU Secretary General Robert Rabasimane saved his harshest criticism for civil service hiring practices, calling the government “the nation’s worst employer.” He cited figures showing that since 2008’s zero-growth policy implementation, civil service recruitment has favored senior positions over entry-level jobs by nearly 3-to-1 margin.
“When 68 percent of the public wage bill goes to top-tier bureaucrats while our youth queue for casual labor, we’re not facing a jobs crisis – we’re facing a moral crisis,” Rabasimane said to applause.
The four-hour discussion concluded with rare consensus on several policy prescriptions, including immediate ratification of the 1964 Employment Policy Convention and establishment of a tripartite wage council. As attendees dispersed, the lingering question remained whether these proposals would translate into action – or join decades of unimplemented solutions to Botswana’s jobs dilemma.
