Additional Topics
The Kingdom of Lesotho, a land of sunny skies and pleasant climate, was formerly known as Basutoland. A tiny mountain country, Lesotho is completely surrounded by South Africa, and Lesotho's history is closely related to that of its powerful neighbor. When wars swept southern Africa during the late 1700s and early 1800s and wiped out large numbers of the population, remnants of the various …
After Independence, education in Lesotho did not attain the hoped for results. By 1977 the drop out rate continued to be high, the quality of education deteriorated, and student and teacher motivation declined. Instead of appointing another Commission of Inquiry that would function in the usual top-down bureaucratic manner, the government organized a Pitso, a nationwide dialogue on education. Usin…
Lesotho's school system consists of twelve school years.
General Survey: There are very few preprimary or nursery schools in Lesotho and only one in Maseru. Near-ly all preprimary schools are privately operated. Consequently, only a very small percentage of children are enrolled. While the Ministry of Education has authority over syllabuses and examinations, and the government aids individual schools, often by subsidizing the salaries of some of the tea…
General Survey: More than 60 secondary schools in Lesotho provide an education for approximately 20,000 students. Once students have completed their primary education and parents can afford tuition and board, students begin secondary education, or high school. Entrance into a secondary school depends on whether students have passed the Primary School Leaving Certificate Exam and whether seats are …
In the first half of the twentieth century, Basotho students could study at Fort Hare College (the University of Fort Hare) in the Cape Province in South Africa. The colonial government paid the college three hundred pounds per year for this service and was represented at its board of governors. In 1958 this agreement was terminated by South Africa. The National University of Lesotho situated in R…
Vocational Education: Two types of technical and vocational education are available: (1) pre-service vocational education in fields that include agriculture, commerce, or nursing, obtained in a school setting within a formalized system of education; (2) in-service, out-of-school education where apprenticeship is the primary element of the program. Most of these programs, though supported by the go…
Teacher training takes place at both the secondary and tertiary levels. Programs are offered at both teacher training colleges and universities. While the Primary School Leaving Certificate is generally regarded as too low a standard of admission, it may be accepted, especially because of the shortage of teachers. Most programs, however, require either a JC or the COSC with passes in English and M…
Despite international perceptions of Lesotho as an economically deprived country, it has a long history of intellectual, academic, and literary involvement. Some of southern Africa's foremost writers, Thomas Mofolo being only one of them, have deep cultural roots in Lesotho. Much of its present educational dilemmas are due to the legacy left by colonialism and the resultant loss of geograph…
Citing this material
Please include a link to this page if you have found this material useful for research or writing a related article. Content on this website is from high-quality, licensed material originally published in print form. You can always be sure you're reading unbiased, factual, and accurate information.
Highlight the text below, right-click, and select “copy”. Paste the link into your website, email, or any other HTML document.
User Comments