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Home > Member countries > Lesotho Education in Lesotho
Lesotho is a small mountainous country covering about 30 000 sq. km. The country is landlocked and completely encircled by South Africa. Popularly referred to as the ‘Kingdom in the Sky’, three quarters of the country is made up of highlands which rise to nearly 3,500 meters in the Drakensberg Mountains. The remaining one-quarter of the country has altitudes between 1,500 and 2,000 meters. The mountainous topography of Lesotho presents difficult terrain, arable land is limited, and less than 10 percent of the country is presently under cultivation. The rural highlands are less developed and winters are severe with heavy snowfalls that often cut off the population from basic social services: education, health services and food supply. Otherwise the country has four ecological regions namely: lowlands, foothills, Senqu river valley and the mountains. The mountains are repositories of the bulk of natural resources including water, gemstones, and endemic and globally significant biodiversity. Its human capital is another main resource. Traditionally, Lesotho depended on the exportation of its labour to South Africa, especially to the gold mines. At one time, miners’ remittances accounted for as much as 30 percent of GNP and were a particularly important household resource in rural areas. However, employment opportunities in the South African mines declined significantly for several reasons, including increased mechanization, high unemployment within South Africa itself and weakening gold prices. Through the Highlands Water Project, Lesotho has started harnessing its water resources for export to Gauteng, the densely populated industrial heartland of South Africa. Administratively, the country is divided into 10 districts namely: ButhaButhe, Leribe, Berea, Maseru, Mafeteng, Mohale’s Hoek, Quthing, Qacha’s Nek, Mokhotlong, and Thaba Tseka. Demographics*:
*latest data as of March 2009 from UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Minister of Education & Training: Hon. Mamphono Khaketla
Duration of compulsory education: 7 years Starting age of compulsory education: 6 years Ending age of compulsory education: 12 years Enrolment in 2006*
Pupil - Teacher Ratios in 2006*
*latest data as of March 2009 from UNESCO Institute for Statistics. Management and Administration of Education Formal education functions through a strong partnership between the Government, school proprietors (church groups), and the local communities (parents). This was facilitated by the passing of the Education Act in 1995. This Act legally underpinned the agreement between the MOET and the churches to collaborate in the education service delivery. It also provided for increased participation by parents and called for all primary and secondary schools to establish School Advisory and Management Committees. The committee members comprise representatives from the MOET, churches and parents. The Education Act has also facilitated commendable progress in resolving the church/state conflict over the management of schools. However, much work needed to be done to enforce the Act and to continue training school committees in their new roles. Additional efforts were required to further define the appropriate roles for the churches and the state in provision of education. Part of the credit received from the International Development Association (IDA) for the Second Education Sector Development Programme (ESDP II) – 1999 to 2012 would be used to train the committees in their new roles More than 90 percent of primary and 80 percent of secondary schools were legally owned by churches. In the 1980s and before, church secretaries were responsible for hiring, firing, deploying and disciplining teachers. However, when church resources for financing recurrent and capital costs dried up, the GOL (Government of Lesotho) became more involved and began providing grants for teachers’ salaries, instructional materials and infrastructure. Further more MOET designs and develops the curriculum to be taught in the schools. In addition to looking after the entire education system through various departments of the Ministry, it is charged with the responsibilities of the pronouncement of policy, the setting of standards, the training of teachers, the formal approval of teachers’ appointments, dismissals and deployment, the administration of examinations, school inspection, and the regulation of the opening and closing of schools. The Ministry began implementing its decentralization plan, during the ESDP I – 1992 to 1996, by building District Resource Centers and legalizing School Advisory and Management Committees. Interaction with the schools including supervisory, monitoring and evaluation activities are performed at the school level through the inspectorate. The role of the inspectorate in the schools is largely advisory; following a site inspection, reports are sent to head teachers, school managers, and church secretaries for action and to the Ministry of Education for general planning and policy formulation and, if necessary, follow-up action. Head teachers’ roles involve the allocation of tasks to respective teachers, supervising the work in order to ensure that set objectives are met, providing support and guidance where it is necessary, and finding possibilities for teachers to get professional development. To improve education governance further, during the plan period, the MOET was restructured. Four main divisions were created, each with a head at the Deputy Principal Secretary level. The intention of the restructuring was to streamline MOET structures and decentralize decision making. However, the roles and responsibilities of central officers versus district and other officers were still not clearly delineated. As a result, most decisions continued to be taken centrally at headquarters. For the system to function efficiently, it would be necessary to spell out the roles and responsibilities of the lower tiers of the management structure. In the final analysis, the education of Lesotho began as a partnership and it still is a partnership affair. It is the property of parents, children, teachers, church proprietors, advisory school committees, management committees, school boards, Government and the Nation as a whole. See the SACMEQ reports for more information. Lesotho - Reading and Math Achievement Levels SACMEQ II (2000) Reading achievement
SACMEQ II (2000) Math achievement
For more country statistics, see also:
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SACMEQ III SACMEQ data Visualization
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