13 Mar 2013

Parliament has been told that in 2011 and 2012, the syllabi for Primary School Leaving Examinations, Junior Certificate Examinations and the Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education were not completed in the majority of schools due to unrest brought about by the national strike.

Responding to a parliamentary question, the Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development, Mr Patrick Masimolole said in 2012, there were many schools where syllabi in various subjects were not completed due to a plethora of reasons including backlog from strike, inadequate teachers in certain subjects and the go slow in many schools.

The assistant minister explained that many schools had some subject syllabi completed while there would be one or two which were not complete. He added that as a result, he could not single out schools which did not complete the syllabus.

Mr Masimolole told the house that the eight hours of work were adequate to cover syllabuses for all subject areas.

He noted that the problem with the eight hours of work was that extracurricular activities could not be efficiently undertaken and that teachers were on duty throughout doing other duties that were peculiar to the teaching profession such as preparing lessons, marking, undertaking remediation and providing general guidance to the learners.

He said he was mindful of the fact that teachers were engaged in teaching throughout the eight hours and that they could take their holidays at the same time when schools closed, which would then compensate them for the time spent on these additional requisites of teaching.

The MP for Kgalagadi North, Mr Phillip Khwae had asked whether the syllabi for primary and secondary schools for 2011 and 2012 respectively were completed across all schools; and if not, which schools did not complete and why.

The legislator had also wanted the minister to state what long term strategies are in place to address the issues of hours of work in the teaching sector as the eight hours of work are not adequate. ENDS