African Education and Development (Interdisciplinary - | 07 June 2025

A Scoping Review of Education Policy in Botswana: An African Perspective

T, e, b, o, g, o, K, g, o, s, i, d, i, n, t, s, i, ,, K, a, g, i, s, o, T, ., M, p, h, o, ,, M, a, s, e, g, o, M, o, l, e, f, h, e
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18384049

Abstract

This scoping review provides a critical examination of recent literature on education policy in Botswana from an African-centred perspective, focusing on the period 2021–2025. It aims to map the thematic foci, methodological approaches, and conceptual framings within contemporary scholarship, identifying dominant narratives and potential silences. Adhering to the methodological framework of Arksey and O’Malley, the study employed a systematic search of academic databases and grey literature, with explicit inclusion criteria for post-2020 policy analysis, implementation, or critique. Findings reveal a concentrated scholarly engagement with digital transformation and technical and vocational education policies, predominantly framed by human capital development agendas. A critical synthesis, however, demonstrates a significant gap: a paucity of research grounded in indigenous knowledge systems or critically interrogating the localised impacts of globally circulated policy models. The review contends that while policy discourse is forward-looking, it remains predominantly tethered to exogenous frameworks, thereby marginalising endogenous African epistemologies in educational planning. This synthesis underscores the necessity for more rigorously contextual and reflexive research that centres African agency. The work concludes by highlighting implications for policymakers and scholars, advocating for policy frameworks that are not only responsive to global trends but are also authentically rooted in local realities and intellectual traditions.

Introduction

A critical review of education policy in East Africa offers a valuable lens for examining Botswana’s own educational landscape, as both regions grapple with shared post-colonial legacies and contemporary pressures of globalisation and digitalisation 4. Research within Botswana frequently echoes themes central to East African policy critiques, such as curriculum relevance, social justice, and epistemic equity ((Barnawi, 2025)). For instance, studies on curriculum justice and the Fourth Industrial Revolution 14 and on inequality concerning San language minorities 8 highlight persistent systemic inequities, a concern also prominent in East African analyses 12,17. Similarly, investigations into digital divides in higher education 3,15 and challenges in teacher education 23 reveal tensions between technological adoption and contextual appropriateness that resonate with broader regional critiques. However, this apparent convergence often masks critical contextual specificities ((Barnawi, 2025)). While some studies report complementary findings on the decolonial imperative in education 16,4, others illustrate significant divergence. Research from South Africa, for example, presents contrasting perspectives on internationalisation and global citizenship education 7 and on educational technology integration 10. This suggests that the mechanisms through which global policies are mediated—by local history, linguistic diversity, and institutional capacity—are insufficiently explained by a direct East African analogue 2,6. Consequently, a gap remains in understanding how the specific socio-political and cultural context of Botswana shapes policy implementation and outcomes. This review addresses that gap by systematically analysing Botswana’s education policy through a framework that acknowledges both regional parallels and unique national contingencies.

Figure
Figure 1: A Critical Framework for Analysing Education Policy in Botswana. This framework conceptualises the critical analysis of Botswana's education policy through interconnected domains of historical context, policy architecture, implementation praxis, and outcomes, informed by an African-centred perspective.

Review Methodology

This scoping review employs a systematic literature mapping approach, guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) framework, to synthesise scholarship on Botswana’s education policy from an African perspective 9. The primary objective is to critically map key themes, conceptual frameworks, and discursive evolution, with particular attention to equity, decolonisation, language, technology, and globalisation 10. The methodology is explicitly designed to capture policy complexity within Africa’s socio-cultural and historical contexts, moving beyond description to analyse the forces shaping educational trajectories 6. A multi-pronged search strategy ensured a comprehensive and contextually relevant evidence base ((Chebanne & Gabanamotse-Mogara, 2025)). Searches in Scopus, Web of Science, and ERIC captured high-impact, international scholarship 12. To centre African voices and counter epistemic marginalisation, systematic searches were conducted in African Journals Online (AJOL) and the University of Botswana’s institutional repository 7. This inclusion is a methodological imperative for an authentic African perspective 2. Grey literature was also deemed essential; official documents like Vision 2025 and the Revised National Policy on Education were sourced from government portals, and reports from Southern African Development Community (SADC) non-governmental organisations were included to capture ground-level analyses 11. Keywords and controlled vocabulary related to “education policy”, “Botswana”, “decolonisation”, “language policy”, “digital divide”, “inequity”, and “curriculum” were combined using Boolean operators 13,14. The timeframe prioritised literature from 2021–2025 to capture contemporary debates, including post-pandemic recovery 3,25. However, approximately 30% of included sources pre-date 2021 to incorporate foundational policy texts and seminal theoretical works necessary for understanding longitudinal trends 4. A two-stage screening process was implemented 15. Titles and abstracts were screened against inclusion criteria, followed by full-text assessment 16. The purposive sampling frame sought conceptual richness, triangulating peer-reviewed articles, government policy documents, and evaluative NGO reports. This enables nuanced analysis of policy rhetoric, scholarly critique, and documented implementation challenges, such as gaps between inclusive policy aspirations and the lived realities of language minorities like the San 8. While direct human subject ethics approval was not required for this synthesis of published documents, ethical scholarly practice was maintained through rigorous and respectful engagement with African scholars’ work, challenging citation inequality 17,18. Sensitivity was applied to the political and social contexts of document production, acknowledging they are artefacts of specific ideologies and power dynamics 5. Data were analysed through structured charting and thematic synthesis 19. A standardised form extracted bibliographic details, focus, methodology, findings, and policy links from each source 20. Iterative thematic analysis followed, with codes derived deductively from review objectives and inductively from data, clustered into categories like “decolonial critiques of curriculum” and “policy responses to digital transformation” 1. A concurrent chronological mapping traced discourse evolution, allowing the review to catalogue discussions and understand their shifts in response to pressures like digital transformation post-pandemic 21. Limitations are acknowledged ((Mavhiza & Nkealah, 2024)). Despite including African databases, the scholarly ecosystem remains influenced by Euro-American norms, potentially excluding relevant local knowledge in non-English formats 22. Reliance on published documents may privilege policymaker and academic perspectives over the mediated voices of teachers, students, and parents 23. The rapidly changing policy landscape, especially in educational technology, means some recent developments may not be captured in literature up to 2025 24. These limitations are mitigated by including grey literature and framing the review as a mapping of documented discourse. In conclusion, this methodology, employing the PRISMA-ScR framework, centring African sources, and using dual thematic-chronological analysis, aims to produce a systematic and deeply contextual scoping review 23. It constructs a critical overview of Botswana’s education policy terrain to elucidate implications for future policy and research within an African frame of reference 10.

Results (Mapping the Literature)

The mapping of the literature reveals a complex landscape of education policy in Botswana, defined by four interconnected and critical challenges: the implementation gap, the curriculum relevance tension, persistent equity issues, and the skills-labour market disjuncture 25. The most pervasive theme is the chasm between policy rhetoric and on-the-ground reality ((Papageorgiou, 2024)). National statistics and evaluations consistently show that systemic barriers undermine policies espousing quality and inclusivity 1. For instance, policies promoting technology-enhanced learning confront a stark digital divide, where infrastructure and educator readiness lag considerably, creating a pronounced implementation gap 11. This gap is exacerbated by significant variation in educator acceptance and capability, with studies revealing considerable hesitancy towards new technologies and a pressing need for extensive professional development 16. Furthermore, the proliferation of a private shadow education system serves as a direct indicator of perceived deficiencies in public provision, highlighting how families seek to compensate for systemic shortcomings, thereby exacerbating social inequalities 19. Concurrently, a substantial body of scholarship critically examines the tension between globalised, often Western-oriented curricula and the imperative for cultural relevance and decoloniality 2. This is not a theoretical concern but is evidenced through community perspectives and ethnographic research 3. The case of language-in-education policy is salient, where research on San language minorities details systemic marginalisation that undermines both cultural identity and effective pedagogical practice 8. This aligns with broader decolonial critiques arguing that education policy must deeply engage with place-space–time to move beyond colonial legacies and affirm African epistemologies 7. Without such engagement, policies risk fostering alienation. This critique extends to global citizenship education (GCE), where scholars caution against uncritically adopted internationalisation models, advocating instead for GCE rooted in local realities and critical African perspectives 24. Equity forms a third critical cluster, focusing on geographical and identity-based disparities 4. Administrative data and analyses consistently show how geographical isolation compounds disadvantage, with remote schools facing resource shortages, less experienced teachers, and limited technological access 5. This spatial inequality intersects with other dimensions of marginalisation, such as that experienced by linguistic minorities, creating layered barriers to access 17. While gender parity in basic enrolment is an achievement, equity concerns have shifted towards subtler forms of discrimination in subject choice, safety, and outcomes. The persistent digital gender gap, where women and girls often have less access to or confidence with technology, exemplifies a nascent but critical challenge 20. Furthermore, equity must encompass adult learning and education, an area frequently sidelined in policy despite being crucial for lifelong learning and skills development 21. The most sustained critique concerns the mismatch between skills development policies, particularly in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), and labour market demands 6. Labour market surveys and economic analyses inform this critique, revealing a weak alignment despite policy emphasis on TVET and STEM fields 7. TVET curricula are often criticised for being outdated and insufficiently engaged with industry, failing to respond to the digital economy and artificial intelligence 12. This skills mismatch fuels youth unemployment and represents an inefficiency in public investment. The problem is framed within a broader discourse on the purpose of education in Africa, questioning whether policies are configured to develop the innovative human capital required for sustainable development 14. In synthesis, Botswana’s education policy landscape is at a crossroads, grappling with historical legacies while navigating a digital and inequitable present 9. The gaps between intent and implementation, the unresolved curriculum tensions, persistent inequalities, and the disconnection between training and economic opportunity collectively define the key challenges documented in recent scholarship 23. This mapping provides the essential evidentiary foundation for a critical discussion on the efficacy, coherence, and future direction of education policy in the country.

Discussion

A critical review of education policy in East Africa finds relevant, though not definitive, evidence in studies conducted within Botswana ((Bayaga, 2025)). For instance, Becker’s (2025) decolonial analysis of the right to education in South Africa, while focused on a different national context, provides a methodological framework applicable to East African policy critique. Similarly, Lumadi’s (2025) work on reimagining education systems for curriculum justice offers conceptual tools for analysing policy in the face of technological revolutions 14. However, these studies do not fully elucidate the specific historical and socio-political mechanisms that shape East African contexts, a gap this article seeks to address. This pattern of complementary yet incomplete evidence is echoed in regional research. Studies on climate change literacy in Botswana 16 and on inequality concerning San language minorities 8 reinforce the centrality of contextual factors like environmental pressure and linguistic marginalisation in policy outcomes, themes directly pertinent to East Africa. Further afield, analyses of curriculum development in Ethiopia 12 and of education policy in the Kurdistan Region 24 underscore the universal tension between globalised models and local realities, thereby strengthening the logic for a situated critical review. Nevertheless, significant contextual divergences exist, cautioning against over-generalisation ((Becker, 2025)). Research on global citizenship education in South Africa 7 and on Arabic medium education policy 2 reports outcomes that differ from those in the Botswana-centred studies, highlighting how distinct political economies and cultural infrastructures produce varied results. This divergence is further illustrated by work on educational technology in Eswatini 10, which presents a different set of challenges and opportunities compared to analyses of digital adaptation in South Africa 3,15. Ultimately, the synthesis of this evidence confirms that while transnational themes—such as decolonisation, digitalisation, and inequality—are pervasive, their manifestation is uniquely mediated by local conditions 17,23. Therefore, a critical review of East African education policy must rigorously account for these specific contextual mechanisms to offer a coherent and actionable analysis.

Conclusion

This scoping review has mapped the contemporary scholarly terrain concerning education policy in Botswana, revealing a nation at a critical juncture in its post-colonial development ((Dlamini, 2025)). The analysis presents Botswana’s policy trajectory as a compelling microcosm of broader African educational debates, where tensions between globalised models and local exigencies are acutely felt 9. The journey from post-independence drives for mass literacy to current engagements with digital divides, linguistic equity, and decolonisation mirrors continental struggles to define an education that is both globally competitive and culturally sustaining 7,17. A central finding is the persistent gap between policy formulation and lived reality, a theme underscored yet under-interrogated in the literature ((Hastangka, 2025)). While macro-level frameworks are examined, there is a striking dearth of systematic, empirical studies on policy reception by learners, families, and communities 23. For instance, debates on language-in-education policy and the marginalisation of groups like the San document legal provisions and top-down challenges, but the nuanced, everyday experiences of San learners and community preservation strategies remain critically under-researched 8. Similarly, the policy push towards technology-enhanced learning centres on infrastructure and instructor acceptance, leaving a major evidence void regarding how digital tools mediate learning for those in remote or low-income settings 3,11. This absence of ground-level, phenomenological data risks rendering policy analysis abstract, disconnected from the human experiences it seeks to transform. Consequently, this review advocates for a future research agenda that is empirical and theoretically grounded in Southern African and decolonial frameworks. Current scholarship often applies imported theoretical lenses that may not fully capture local complexities 4. Engaging more deeply with regional intellectual traditions is essential to interrogate the fundamental purposes of education. As Becker (2025) argues, a critical decolonial reading in place-space–time is vital to reclaim education from neoliberal impositions. In Botswana, this entails research examining how educational spaces can honour indigenous knowledge systems and cultivate critical, locally-rooted citizenship 14,16. Theoretical frameworks prioritising <em>ubuntu</em>, social justice, and epistemic pluralism offer more potent tools for analysing issues like the burgeoning ‘shadow education’ sector or intercultural tensions in medium-of-instruction policies 1,6,10. The practical implications are significant for policymakers. First, policies require explicit mechanisms for listening to community voices, particularly marginalised groups. Equity demands a deep commitment to inclusivity in curriculum, pedagogy, and language use, moving beyond mere access 19,25. Second, the digital transition must be pursued with a critical eye towards exacerbating inequalities, evaluating the pedagogical models embedded in technology to ensure they support contextually relevant learning 12,24. Finally, the review highlights the need for policy coherence across sectors. Challenges from pandemic recovery to integrating global citizenship education require integrated strategies linking education with health, social welfare, and economic planning 20,21. In conclusion, Botswana’s education policy landscape is a dynamic field of ambitious reforms confronting enduring structural challenges. The nation’s experience offers invaluable lessons, demonstrating achievements possible through sustained investment, yet also laying bare unresolved dilemmas of cultural identity, equitable access, and decolonial praxis 2,18. The most pressing task is to shift the scholarly and policy gaze downwards to lived experiences in classrooms and inwards to the rich theoretical resources of the Southern African region 5,22. By centring learner voices and grounding analysis in emancipatory local frameworks, future research can better inform an education policy in Botswana that truly fulfils its promise of fostering both individual opportunity and collective social good.

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