Africa-Press – Botswana. Professional bodies are systematically starving young graduates entry into the market, observes Palapye Member of Parliament, Mr Onneetse Ramogapi.
The MP tabled a motion in Parliament on July 28 requesting government to harmonise all professional bodies acts in the country with that of Botswana Qualifications Authority (BQA).
He said BQA was the only accreditation body in the country and that the law should be in such a way that if a training programme was accredited, graduates should be allowed into the job market.
Mr Ramogapi said the current situation where professional bodies refused to register some graduates was undesirable because BQA had accredited the programmes and government had spent a lot of money training learners.
He said the law should be that before qualifications were accredited, they should pass through professional bodies to endorse them.
Mr Ramogapi said hundreds of young professionals had been left in the lurch by lack of harmonisation of professional bodies laws and the BQA Act.
He added that some professional bodies questioned certain institutions and qualifications as well and come up with tough entry requirements for graduates, which only served to protect the market for those who were already in.
He said some bodies required a graduate to pay a hefty fee before being registered and required at least two years of understudy experience, yet they refused to give such young graduates the said experience.
The MP said for a long time government had said it was reviewing the concerned laws, but that nothing changed, hence the motion was necessary.
Minister of Education and Skills Development, Dr Douglas Letsholathebe said the ministry recognised the need to harmonise professional bodies act with that of BQA.
He said such was critical because education standards should be acceptable to both professional bodies and the BQA, adding that the current disharmony had created a registration challenge for the graduates and professional bodies.
The minister noted that BQA was among others responsible for accreditation of qualifications from early childhood to tertiary level and to implement a common quality assurance platform as well as to register and validate qualifications to ensure their relevance to the country’s social and economic needs.
On the other hand, he said profession bodies regulated the activities and conduct of professionals and assessed the quality and relevance of their qualifications for registration.
He noted that their mandate was in conflict with that of BQA.
He said efforts were ongoing to review laws governing professional bodies and the BQA Act with a view to remove existing overlaps and creating harmony among the laws.
Dr Letsholathebe also said professional bodies were working with their parent ministries to effect the harmonisation, adding that in the interim, BQA had mandated that programmes be first endorsed by professional bodies before being accredited.
He also noted that BQA had signed memorandums of understanding with some professional bodies and that the intervention paved a way for acceptance of graduates upon completion.
The minister said it would not be necessary for his ministry to approve the motion because efforts to remedy the situation was in place, explaining that the review of various professional bodies acts would be done before the end of the year.
The debate on the motion is expected to continue on Friday.
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