The philosophy of Botho: the key to Botswana’s citizenship education

ABSTRACT

African communities have experienced disharmony, which makes communal living difficult. This paper reinforces the importance of local philosophies, which can improve communal living. This paper proposes introducing the philosophy of Botho in schools to promote citizenship education. A contextually relevant model has the potential to instill community harmony by giving students the knowledge and skills to engage as responsible citizens. African systems can produce a socially inclusive and active citizenship by shifting from an abstract theory in the school context to a system and process that are contextually relevant.

KEYWORDS:

• Botho
• citizenship education
• Afrocentrism
• Botswana context

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).