Basic Education in Lesotho Essay Example

another, for future production of a citizen who would be useful in his or her community. The young ones were moulded to become easily intergrated in to the society which they lived in and so to become productive and loyal to their country- (Moeletsi et al 2002: 26- 28). These were maintained through teaching and learning as parents in the family were teachers and elders were teachers outside the family sector such as the initiation schools.

According to Moeletsi et al (2002), “the youth were expected to demonstrate their mastery of the skills and knowledge essentials to the physical cultural needs of the community’.

During the missionary era, teachers were to be evangelists first and pedagogues secondly. Thus, due to the fact that the missionaries were the ones who introduced formal education in Lesotho, basic education was influenced by the need of the missionaries for communication, Bible reading and acquisition of literacy.

The European cultural values and behaviour were also emphasized-(Moeletsi et al 2002: 27). The British government later colonized Lesotho and it continued with formal education support through grants.

During the colonial period education and training for Basotho were largely directed towards the limited opportunities for employment in the government sector and in the churches as teachers. Thus, more people sent their children to school for acquirement of skills and knowledge in order to get white collar jobs.