ABSTRACT

In an effort to implement the recommendations of the 1 994 Revised National Policyon Education (RNPE) (Republic of Botswana, 1994) and to fulfill the aspirations ofVision 201 6 (Republic of Botswana, 1 997), Early Childhood Care and Education(ECC&E) Policy was released in 2001 in Botswana. After five years of operation itbecame imperative to review the status of the ECCE programs in terms of adherenceto the stipulated policy requirements and maintenance of quality standards. Hence astudy funded by the Office of Research and Development (ORD), University ofBotswana (UB) was conducted in the southern part of Botswana which has thehighest concentration of various types of ECCE programs. The study was conductedin two phases the first covering the heads and teachers of the ECCE centres while thesecond phase included the ECCE Policy Stake Holders (EPSH) of Botswana. Thepresent paper concentrates on the second part covering the important EPSH who areresponsible for the implementation of the policy. In doing the research, a structuredinterview schedule was used. The data was analyzed qualitatively. The findingsshowed that there is an increased participation in child care provision, education andregistration of ECCE centres (Republic of Botswana, 2006-b); thus the existingcentres do adhere to the ECCE policy requirements to a certain extent. Howevergreater efforts are required to ensure an effective implementation of the 2001 ECCEpolicy and to raise the quality and proper delivery of ECCE programs in Botswana.

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