Unlike many onomastics studies which focus on meanings of names and circumstances surrounding the way they are assigned, this study uses names as a prism for investigating the effects of multilingualism, history, education and Christianity on the Bakalanga naming practices and identity formation. The data used in the study indicates that the names used by the Bakalanga ethnic group are drawn from various languages (Ikalanga, Setswana, Shona, Ndebele, English) and reflect various socio-cultural and religious practices found in the region. The names point to a cosmopolitan and transitory society whose names and identities are very much responsive to changes in language use, socio-cultural and historical links and connections. Such an investigation and analysis of names is meant to further elucidate the far reaching effects of multilingualism which include bilingualism, acculturation, language attitude and shift. Further, the study is meant to present names as evidence or a map of a community's historical, social, cultural and linguistic course.
Botswana’s education system, like many other African systems, is greatly influenced by western educational ideas and models. This article reviews Botswana’s education system by examining the policies, models and ideas that have influenced its development. Specifically, the review involves tracing the development of the education system of Botswana from the pre-colonial era to the present and highlighting the educational ideas and models in use at each stage. Since most of the educational ideas are based on western models, the article seeks whatever Platonic underpinnings that might belie these ideas. This is because Plato is considered to be one of the greatest thinkers of all time whose ideas on education are pervasive. His ideas have influenced western education systems as well as modern intellectual and educational thinking.
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