Abstract:
This article is an attempt to theoretically present Ubuntu/Botho philosophy as a complementary
approach to guide efforts intended to restore and maintain positive emotional well-being among
African Basotho school going children and youth during COVID-19 and beyond. Research shows that
COVID-19 pandemic has impacted badly on school systems, particularly teaching and learning
process and school life in general. The central assumption driving this paper is that factors emanating
from Covid-19 pandemic do not only contribute to the damage of learning process for many learners,
but they also contribute to a mental and emotional health crisis, as a result of lost access to services
that are naturally offered by schools. Informed by Ubuntu/Botho philosophy, the paper argues that
schools have moral obligation to protect learners’ emotional health as a crucial variable for both their
complete psychosocial well-being and academic achievement. It looks at maintenance of emotional
well-being from the lens of Ubuntu/Botho world view. Ubuntu/Botho adoption as a theoretical
framework is an effort to contribute knowledge and suggest practice that have their foundation on the
experiences of people, informed by their own sociological and cultural constructs. Ubuntu/Botho as a
guiding principle places values such as compassion, empathy, sharing, respect, solidarity at the centre
of human co-existence, thus, has the potential to create school relationships and support systems that
can restore and maintain positive emotions.
