The Botswana education system bases its philosophy on education for all using English and
Setswana as the official languages for learning and teaching in schools despite the diversity of
the society. Botswana has 8 Setswana ethnic groups with Setswana as their mother tongue and 26
minority languages. Some of them speak Sengologa/ Sekgalagadi; a language of their so-called
masters. The Basarwa children find it difficult to converse in Setswana but are usually taught by
teachers from the Setswana ethnic groups or those fortunate to be articulate in Setswana and
English. When these teachers instruct Basarwa children whose languages are mutually
unintelligible, it becomes a great challenge. Learning is burdensome; frustrating to both the
teachers, parents of the Basarwa children; and the children themselves. The teaching of children
in their mother tongue cannot be overemphasized. Education becomes a foreign concept from
their indigenous culture leading to a higher risk of dropping out of school, a feeling of
discrimination by the teachers who cannot communicate in their language, or understand their
culture.
The study utilized the qualitative method to establish the difficulties the Basarwa children face in
adapting to the Setswana and English ways of learning and the reasons for their high dropout
rates. Greater attention was paid to the strategies and methods the teachers used to reach out to
these children in order to assist them with their schooling. The study was carried out in a small
settlement in the Kgalagadi Desert called Phuduhudu.