A Review of Issues of Inequality and Inequity in Education Concerning the San Language Minorities in Botswana – 1997 - 2023
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36950/lpia-01-01-2025-5Keywords:
Botswana; Language policy, San minorities; inequality, inequity, mother tongueAbstract
Research now abounds on the issues that bedevil the education of minority ethnic groups in Botswana. If a consideration is made about language as a human right, the right to learn in one’s language becomes fundamental. Indeed, issues of equality and equity in education are subsumed in many strategies, policies, and laws that define the education of a nation. If Education is concerned with societal knowledge and cultural values systems, then there is no equity in access in Botswana as equality assumes that leaners have equal linguistic competence. The paper will argue against the belief that homogeneity equalizes the learners. A point will be made that minority language speakers, such as the San (Khoisan), suffer from being overlooked and rendered irrelevant in education as they encounter school languages for the first time in the classroom. The paper will underscore the fact that matters of mother tongue education, culture-infused curriculum, and teacher training are key in education. The thesis of this paper is that a meaningful education should, underline equitable principles that bring about inclusive and constructive development of the self, democracy, self-reliance, and cherishing of unity in diversity. The methodology of the discussion will be guided by a critique of existing policies and their philosophy of education that does not value a culture-based and all-inclusive education that can benefit the Khoisan learner.
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