**Table 2.**

*Structure of the primary and secondary education system in Botswana.*

means given learners a good start to proceed and succeed in their future learning. Successful foundational years are imperative to turn children aspirations for bright future learning and living into reality. Botswana needs to do more to provide a very strong start in education for its young children as the foundation is currently shaky.

A focus on the level of education that follows the foundational years also indicates that Botswana is yet to work hard to achieve quality education. This quality means that education must exhibit relevance to the needs of the country. This is learning that comes more as a result of the interplay of schooling and individual efforts. At this stage learners are to be given opportunities to develop their lifelong learning prowess; to be given a space for self-directedness and become active drivers of their learning. It is a learning discourse that develops "personal qualities needed for life and work" [1]. According to the ETSSP, this stage targets children of ages 16 to 18 years. The school for them is means to nurture personal qualities needed for life and work. Schools are there to continuously enable learners to "learn to improve their skills and enrich their lives" [1].

The continuum described in the two preceding paragraphs is illustrated in the figure below (**Figure 1**).

It has already been mentioned that the first goal of "providing an excellent start in education so that they (learners) have better foundation for future learning" has been dolefully attempted especially in the period targeted by the ETSSP, that is, 2015-2020. Many children have progressed from primary to secondary school with low pass marks and some having failed. In fact Makwinja [4] reveals that poor results have been regular trends in Primary School Leaving Examination, which comes at the end of 7 years of primary schooling; Junior Certificate of Education done at the end of the third year of the lower secondary education and the Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education, that marks the end of their high secondary education, before proceeding to tertiary education. Many children in these years of school had been failing. Many reasons have been given for these failing performances.

In Makwinja's [4] study that explored reasons for continuous poor performance in schools, it was reported performance in schools has "plummeted year after year despite the various innovations embedded in the educational policies" (p. 48). She cites (p. 49) a number of reasons, that,

*in remote rural areas, the way of life of the communities exacerbate the dropout rate since children may leave school to follow their parents during seasonal harvesting and planting seasons. Some may be affected by migratory patterns of seminomadic communities, language barriers and economic pressures on poor families,* 

**Figure 1.**

*Continuum of the education system. Source: [1].*

*Community Learning Centres as Podia for Technology Enhanced Ubiquitous Learning… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.94045*


#### **Table 3.**

*Botswana education grading system.*

*especially the boys. At secondary school level, girls drop out more due to teenage pregnancy.... Some children from poor families or disadvantaged minorities work as farm labourers.*

She has also acknowledged that some children in the remote areas are challenged to walk long distance to school, making it impossible for them especially during inclement weather. These conditions affect interest and pattern of attendance as well as progression to higher levels of education hence poor results year after year. Makwinja clarified her contention of poor performance using 2014 Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE). During this year (2014), "only 25.75% (5, 796) obtained Grade C or better. The rest of the candidates obtained Grade D or below" (p. 49). The grading system in Botswana follows this pattern (**Table 3**).

Formal education is expected to empower learners to move from lower to higher level of education. Those children who progress with poor performance end up joining hundreds of millions of children worldwide who reach young adulthood without even the most basic skills like calculating the correct change from a transaction [5]. For Botswana, this would be an unfortunate situation as education is one of the areas given receiving the largest share of total government expenditure. Expenditure on education, for example, averaged 28% of the total national budget in the years 2006/7 to 2009/10 [1]. The example of Botswana here is a case of high spending in education that does not translate into more learning and improved human capital [5]. It is important for countries experiencing this challenge to be very direct about how to address the situation. The proposed use of community learning centres (CLCs) as podia for ubiquitous learning is meant to complement poor performance at the foundational years of schooling. Poor performance is a consistent reminder that if levels of performance do not improve then young people, who are engines of productivity in the future are ruined [6]. As Adesina urged, all African countries should educate their youth in order for them to ignite a new age of inclusive prosperity on the continent. A good start should be at the foundational years of education.
