15 Jan 2015

Some primary schools in the North West region have performed dismally in the 2014 Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE) results.

Speaking at stakeholders PSLE analysis meeting in Maun on January 14, the North West regional education director, Mr Acronews Maseko said some schools’ performance was disastrous such as Khweeoseo in Somelo settlement which had a 7.7 per cent pass rate.

The other schools that performed badly were Shammombo in Etsha 7 with 11.1 per cent, Bothatlogo with 16 per cent and Sekondomboro with 17.2 per cent pass rates.

Mr Maseko said some schools, which scored average were still a concern such as Boyei in Maun, which he said had a great population of pupils, therefore a 51 per cent pass was sad and unwarranted. “There are 24 schools below the 50 per cent pass rate regional standard in the region,” he said. 

He added that there were various challenges accountable for low performance in schools in the North West region such as lack of parental involvement.

Mr Maseko cited Xaixai Primary, which he said had a challenge of students who absconded school while parents failed to intervene, while in Somelo settlement, which had the poorest school performance, was faced with a dire situation of lack of water.

The other challenges in the region, he said, were pupil-teacher ratio, students who did not do break through and could not read and write at upper classes as well as compromised leadership in some schools and inability by the region to retain qualified and experienced teachers, especially in the Okavango sub-region.

However, Mr Maseko said all was not gloomy in the North West region since some schools performed excellently such as Kgosietsile in Mababe, which had a 100 per cent pass rate, Sankoyo, which scored 93.3 percent, Botswelelo in Maun at 91.5 and Matsaudi Primary at 90 percent.

He noted that it showed the region had potential to do better if all stakeholders would collaborate, 

The PSLE results for the North West region of 2014 was 56.12 percent pass while in 2013 it was 55 per cent, a 1.2 per cent increase.

Mr Maseko said the regional office had resolved to visit all the under-performing schools, timely employment of temporary teachers, intensify schools inspection and redeployment of school heads to improve schools performance.

One of the stakeholders, Mr Edwin Mosimanyana from the University of Botswana (UB) suggested that there should be strategies put in place to engage parents in their pupil’s work since parental involvement was key in good results as evidenced by private schools.

Some stakeholders said the problem of lack of resources such as books in schools could be one of the factors responsible for decline in results, since some parents could not afford to buy books for their children.

The stakeholders meeting was meant to promote ownership of the results and to share on how to improve results in the region. ENDS