Botswana - Early Childhood Care and Education Policy

This policy has two important areas. The first area consists of twenty-nine recommendations, which must be implemented together with those of the RNPE. The second area consists of a set of standard guidelines for the development of ECC&E programme and services. These are discussed under three chapters.

Chapter one gives the introduction and background about early childhood care and education and explains why it was transferred to the Ministry of Education. It gives reasons for the consultancy, and also shows areas that the consultancy focused on. A summary of problems identified by the consultancy is given. These problems are discussed as important issues for the development of this policy.

The second chapter discusses the twenty-nine recommendations, which reflect specific requirements, intentions and commitment to address problems identified by the consultancy review and the RNPE. The traditional joint responsibility for provision of services between the Ministry of Education (MOE) and Ministry of Local Government (MLG) is now extended to the ECC&E programme.

The third chapter outlines standard requirements for operating a daycare/nursery, pre-primary and baby-care services. The pre-primary service shares the same requirements with the day-care/nurseries. This chapter concludes with an explanation about forms for each type of service which stakeholders and supervisors must familiarise themselves with.