Stakeholders’ perceptions on political instability and its influence on policy implementation within the Lesotho education sector

Abstract

Lesotho’s political landscape is marked by political instability, which has resulted in a dysfunctional state and division among Basotho over the years. This situation also negatively affected the Lesotho education sector. In particular, education policy implementation has been negatively affected because, to be effective and realise its aims and objectives, education policy needs to be implemented in a politically stable context. In this article, we report on stakeholders’ perceptions of the impact of political instability on the implementation of education policies in Lesotho. The study reported on here was guided by complexity theory, and it is qualitative in nature with data being collected through the use of semi-structured interviews. Our study revealed that political instability in Lesotho lead to constant changes in decision-making political office bearers, thus affecting the continuity of education policy implementation. The unstable political context, partisan politics, lack of political will and fragmented policies adversely affected education policy implementation in Lesotho. Failure by the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) to address these factors implies a ministry that assumes that education policies are self-executing and unaffected by context. Amongst others, we recommend that the MoET develops an overarching education policy framework amid political turmoil, inform policy implementation, and ensure continuation.