CAN THE EDUCATION IFRASTRUCTURE MANAGEMENT COMPANY (EIMC) BREAK THE CYCLE?

 For decades, Botswana has often approached school infrastructure like a leaking roof in the rainy season. Much of the work has been repairing what is immediately broken, reopen the school and move on. The difficulty is that a temporary repair is not the same thing as a maintenance system. A roof can be patched repeatedly while the structure around it continues to age.

That distinction matters now because Botswana is attempting something more ambitious than another refurbishment exercise. The Education Infrastructure Management Company (EIMC), established as a wholly government-owned Special-Purpose Vehicle (SPV) under the Ministry of Child Welfare & Basic Education (MCW&BE), has been given a national infrastructure mandate. Its role extends beyond construction to modernization, preventive and lifecycle maintenance, professional facilities and asset management, and digital and smart-school transformation.

The National Programme on Refurbishment, Modernization and Maintenance of Schools covers 1,020 public schools, comprising 779 primary schools, 207 junior secondary schools and 34 senior secondary schools. Government and EIMC have put the overall infrastructure requirement at about P7 billion. For 2026/27, government has allocated P1 billion to the wider programme, while the first EIMC refurbishment phase covers 22 secondary schools at P265 million between August 2026 and March 2027.

The P7 billion is an estimated national requirement, not a single expenditure commitment that has already been secured. Likewise, the P265 million programme is the first phase, not the cost of refurbishing all 1,020 schools. This distinction is important because public confidence in a large infrastructure programme depends not only on what is promised, but on what is funded, delivered, maintained and independently accounted for.

The question, therefore, is not simply whether EIMC can spend billions on buildings. It is whether Botswana can move from a culture of intermittent repairs to a coherent system in which school infrastructure is treated as a long-term public asset. The four services at the heart of EIMC provide a useful framework for asking this question.

TRANSFORMING SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE

EIMC's first national interventions involve refurbishing and modernizing existing public schools, while also supporting expansion where overcrowding requires additional space. The first 22 schools began receiving refurbishment attention in August 2026, with completion scheduled for March 2027.

There is ample evidence that the infrastructure problem is not imaginary. In March 2026, the MCW&BE acknowledged that several junior secondary school hostels had exceeded their intended capacity. Parliament was told that the standard design capacity was 96 pupils per hostel, while some schools were accommodating substantially more. Earlier cases have also documented science laboratories being converted into ordinary classrooms because of classroom shortages.

History demonstrates that Botswana inherited a relatively small formal education system at independence in 1966 and then expanded access rapidly. The Education for Kagisano (1977) reforms placed greater emphasis on wider access, self-reliance, development, democracy and social harmony. The expansion of community junior secondary education was part of this wider effort to make education available to more citizens. The Revised National Policy on Education (1994) subsequently reinforced the principles of access, equity, relevance and quality.

Expansion was a major achievement, but expansion creates an infrastructure obligation. Botswana's school system grew in response to demographic change, policy reform and rising expectations. When the junior secondary structure was extended from two years to three years in 1996, EIMC has explained that many schools designed around the earlier configuration acquired additional pressure without corresponding expansion. The result is now visible in overcrowding, inadequate specialist rooms and pressure on boarding facilities.

This history is important because it prevents the present crisis from being reduced to a story of neglect by individual schools. Botswana succeeded in widening access to education, but the physical structures did not always evolve at the same speed as the education system itself.

Modernization must therefore be judged by educational function, not by appearance. A science laboratory is not modern because its walls have been painted. An agricultural syllabus needs water, appropriate garden space and equipment. A digital classroom requires reliable electricity, connectivity, devices and technical support.

The shift towards STEAM-related learning makes this even more important. Infrastructure must follow curriculum intentions. If Botswana wants schools to produce learners who can design, experiment, build, code, grow, cook and solve practical problems, the school must provide the physical conditions in which those activities can take place.

PREVENTIVE & LIFECYCLE MAINTENANCE

The second pillar may ultimately be more important than the first. Refurbishment creates visible political and public satisfaction, but maintenance determines whether that investment survives. Botswana has experienced repeated examples of schools receiving major interventions and later requiring further repairs. The central issue is not whether maintenance happens, but whether it happens before deterioration becomes expensive and disruptive.

EIMC's model is to move from reactive repairs towards preventive and lifecycle maintenance. That means inspecting buildings, recording their condition, scheduling routine and cyclical work, replacing components before failure where appropriate, and planning expenditure over the useful life of an asset.

This is consistent with established international practice. In its 10 year infrastructure strategy, England's Department for Education, for example, expects responsible bodies to maintain asset registers, condition data, space-use information, compliance records and long-term maintenance plans. Its Condition Improvement Fund supports keeping school buildings safe and in good working order. New Zealand similarly uses regular, cyclical and specialist maintenance planning, including long-term property plans. These systems differ from Botswana's institutional arrangements, but the underlying lesson is similar: maintenance is a planned function, not an emergency response.

Regionally, South Africa's school infrastructure programmes have combined new construction, rehabilitation, basic services and maintenance. The Accelerated Schools Infrastructure Delivery Initiative, for example, was designed to address inappropriate structures and deficiencies in water, sanitation and electricity, while provincial infrastructure programmes handle construction, upgrading and maintenance. South Africa's experience also demonstrates that large infrastructure programmes can remain vulnerable to implementation capacity, funding pressures, procurement problems and the sheer scale of the backlog.

Botswana should learn from both the successes and limitations of such models. A national maintenance system will need reliable condition assessments, transparent prioritization, service-level standards and predictable funding.

PROFESSIONAL FACILITIES & ASSET MANAGEMENT

The third pillar moves the debate from buildings to assets. A school is not simply a collection of classrooms. It is a portfolio of buildings, laboratories, workshops, hostels, kitchens, water systems, electrical installations, sports facilities, staff accommodation, ICT equipment and other physical assets. Each has a condition, a replacement cost, a useful life and a maintenance requirement.

EIMC's proposed asset-management approach includes asset registers, condition assessments, lifecycle planning and performance monitoring. This is a significant institutional shift because it creates the possibility of managing public schools according to evidence rather than anecdote. A national infrastructure authority should be able to answer basic questions quickly: Which buildings are in poor condition? Which schools are overcrowded? Where are the greatest water and sanitation risks? How much will the national estate cost to maintain over the next decade?

The answer to these questions should not depend on who happens to be the school head or regional director at the time. It should be contained in a reliable national asset-management system.

This is where Botswana can draw from international estate-management practice. England's school estate guidance recommends asset registers, condition surveys, utilization data, statutory compliance records and maintenance prioritization. New Zealand's school property system likewise combines property planning, project management and a central asset-management platform. The point is not to copy either country. Botswana's geography, fiscal circumstances and institutional arrangements are different. The principle, however, is transferable: government cannot manage what it cannot reliably measure.

DIGITAL & SMART SCHOOL TRANSFORMATION

Digital transformation is not the installation of a few interactive screens. It is the creation of the physical and technical infrastructure required for technology-enabled education to function consistently.

That includes reliable electricity, connectivity, appropriate equipment, digital learning platforms and technical support. It also requires buildings that can accommodate these systems safely. A school without dependable power or internet cannot become a smart school merely because it has been supplied with computers.

This pillar also connects infrastructure management with education policy. Botswana's education system has repeatedly attempted to make schooling more relevant to national development, from the self-reliance and practical orientation associated with Education for Kagisano to the relevance and quality objectives of the RNPE (1994) and the more recent emphasis on STEAM. Digital infrastructure should therefore be understood as part of the learning environment, not as a separate technology project.

If digital transformation is concentrated in better-connected urban schools, the infrastructure programme could unintentionally widen the very inequalities it is intended to reduce. Rural and remote schools need dependable connectivity, power and technical support if the digital pillar is to mean national transformation rather than selective modernization.

LESSONS FROM BOTSWANA’S EDUCATION HISTORY

Botswana's education history presents a paradox. Since independence, the country has achieved a remarkable expansion of educational access. The Education for Kagisano (1977) reforms sought to extend opportunity and strengthen the relationship between education and national development. The RNPE (1994) further emphasized access, equity, relevance, quality and effective management. Subsequent reforms and development plans have continued to expand the system and respond to a changing economy.

Notwithstanding this, access and infrastructure are inseparable. More learners require more classrooms. More practical subjects require laboratories, workshops and specialist rooms. More boarding learners require safe accommodation. More technology requires reliable electricity and connectivity.

This is why EIMC should not be judged merely by the number of schools it refurbishes. The deeper test is whether it changes the operating logic of school infrastructure. If the same buildings are repeatedly repaired without a credible maintenance cycle, the problem will return. If new facilities are built without accurate enrolment projections, overcrowding will return.

CAN EIMC BREAK THE CYCLE

The case for a dedicated infrastructure institution is therefore understandable. Fragmented responsibilities can make it difficult to plan, procure, maintain and monitor a national estate consistently. EIMC's integrated model attempts to connect these functions under one institutional roof.

However, centralization is not a guarantee of success since it can create its own risks. A national asset register is only useful if the data are accurate. A maintenance contract is only useful if performance is monitored. A large budget is only defensible if procurement is transparent and projects are delivered at reasonable cost.

The strongest safeguard will be measurable accountability. EIMC should publish, at regular intervals, which schools have been assessed, which projects have been approved, what they cost, when they are due for completion, what defects were identified after handover and how maintenance is being funded. Parliament, schools, communities and the public should be able to see whether the P7 billion estimate is translating into durable assets rather than short-lived improvements.

Botswana's own history of community involvement in education reminds us that schools are not isolated government properties. Parents, teachers, local authorities, businesses and non-governmental organizations all have a stake in whether infrastructure is protected and used well. EIMC's engagement with local artisans and communities is therefore potentially important, provided participation is accompanied by clear procurement rules, quality standards and accountability.

The final test is educational, not architectural. A refurbished school should make teaching easier, learning safer and practical education more realistic. A maintenance system, asset management and digital infrastructure should widen access to modern learning. If these outcomes become visible, EIMC will represent more than a new institutional arrangement. It will represent a change in how Botswana thinks about the physical foundations of education.

Botswana has spent decades building access to education. The next stage requires equal seriousness about preserving and modernizing the places in which education happens. EIMC has been given an opportunity to implement a system. Whether it succeeds will depend less on the acronym than on four disciplines: build intelligently, maintain continuously, manage assets professionally and modernize equitably.

The real question, then, is not whether EIMC can repair Botswana's schools. It is whether Botswana can finally build an education infrastructure system that does not need to be rescued every generation.

Oabona Moses Sello

Teacher, Blogger & Writer

Grab a copy of his published book titled “CORPORAL PUNISHMENT IN SCHOOL: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH FROM AFRICA; BOTSWANA.”

obmsello@gmail.com/+267 73 352 030