BackgroundCreating access to curricula at institutions of higher education for students with disabilities requires a concerted effort from management and other key stakeholders to identify students’ needs and create opportunities for success.ObjectivesThis paper presents the findings of a study which examined students with disabilities’ access to curricula at a higher education institution in Lesotho.MethodData for this qualitative study were collected using three methods: in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and document analysis. Eleven students with various types of impairments and 15 academic and non-academic staff members currently working in close proximity to students with disabilities participated in this study.ResultsThe findings reveal inconsistencies between the institution’s admission policy of non-discrimination according to disability status and its practices. These inconsistencies are discussed under the following themes: (1) access at admission level, (2) management of disability data, (3) support by the special education unit, (4) teaching strategies, (5) support by lecturers, (6) availability of assistive technology, (7) special concessions and (8) students’ coping mechanisms.ConclusionWe recommend that a clear policy concerning the support of students with disabilities be developed with the following aims: guide decisions on how disability data should be used, define roles that different university departments must play in facilitating access to curricula for all students, influence suitable development of teaching and learning resources, stimulate research on success and completion rates of students with disabilities and mandate restructuring of programmes that are currently inaccessible to students with disabilities. Key stakeholders, including students with disabilities, disabled persons’ organisations, disability rights activists, and staff should be involved in such policy design.

This study looks at how the education of Learners with Special Education Needs (LSEN) has developed in Lesotho as a result of international policies on human rights and education. In particular, it explores various challenges to inclusive education such as proper understanding of inclusive education, the development of a policy on special and inclusive education, and the availability of resources to support inclusive education. The study used a qualitative approach to collect and analyse data. Thirty-nine participants were interviewed for the study. It was found that, though efforts are made to support LSEN in both special and mainstream schools, the support may not result in successful academic and social development for LSEN. There is also a lack of understanding by teachers and educationalists about what constitutes inclusive education. The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) is slow in developing a policy on special needs and there are inadequate resources for inclusive education to succeed.

This quantitative study analyzed and predicted gender differences of agriculture graduates’ attitudes towards and challenges in entrepreneurship in Botswana. The study adopted a descriptive and correlational survey research design. A valid and reliable questionnaire was used for data collection through a survey of randomly sampled 149 final year agriculture graduate students (n=149). Inferential statistical tools of Independent t-test and Regression analysis were used for data analysis. The findings of the study determined three important attitudinal factors as: entrepreneurship results in economic growth of a country, employability and income generation and, entrepreneurship improves individual and social growth. Three important constraints in entrepreneurship were lack of land, lack of proper infrastructure and, lack of capital. These top attitudinal factors as well as constraints were the same for the male and female graduates despite of their ranking and importance. A gender difference in students’ attitudes towards entrepreneurship was established while no gender difference in the challenges in entrepreneurship was found. Out of fifteen constraints in entrepreneurship under study, only three constraints namely, lack of land, high competition in market and lack of capital, were determined as significant predictors of the graduates’ attitudes towards entrepreneurship. It is recommended that these three factors be made priorities while making policies for entrepreneurship development in the country. Further study is recommended to explore the perceptions of graduates on the possible ways to improve on these three predicting constraints and explore latent constraints predicting graduates’ attitude towards entrepreneurship. Those findings may provide better ideas in planning policies for entrepreneurial development among agriculture graduates in Botswana.

Electronic learning is a techno approach that brings new opportunities for teaching and learning in many fields of education compared to the traditional classroom environment. However, there is a dearth of research on its effectiveness in practicality and whether it is dependable enough during teaching and learning. Thus, this systematic review aims to provide evidence from numerous findings on the reliability components (such as functionality, probability of success, environment, and duration) of online teaching and learning (OTL) tools in Lesotho higher education institutions (HEIs), focusing on functionality and probability of success only. A review of online learning tools includes Thuto, Google Meet, Google Classroom, Zoom, Moodle, and Microsoft Teams. Technology adoption models and Siemens’ theory of connectivism underpin this review. The review covered 18 articles between 2015 and 2021. Scopus, Google Scholar, ProQuest, and EBSCO were used for data search. In addition, selected studies were reviewed by experts in Educational Technology at the National University of Lesotho. Some factors were found to hinder the functionality and success of OTL tools, including lack of internet connectivity, electricity, and gadgets. As a result of this review, OTL tools are effective to some extent in terms of functionality and likelihood of success. However, the weaknesses of the e-learning tools outweigh the strengths of Lesotho HEIs. Consequently, only using OTL tools could hamper the quality of higher education in Lesotho. In HEIs, blended learning and continuous training on e-learning tools should be introduced for effective teaching and learning.