24 Jan 2017

The Minister of Basic Education, Dr Unity Dow says her ministry is committed to offering the necessary support to all schools across the country to achieve better results.

“However we cannot do it alone. It takes a collective effort of the parents, the community leaders, the trade unions and the students themselves,” she said.

Dr Dow said this when presenting a summary of the 2015 Junior Certificates examination results, which have been approved by Botswana Examinations Council on the January 18, 2017 and subsequently released on  January 20, 2017.  

“We cannot afford to play waiting game through the year and pointing fingesr at the Ministry of Basic Education come results day. We all have a role to play,” she said.

She said in 2016, a total number of 41 464 pupils sat for the JCE against 41938 in 2015 with 271 candidates attaining an overall grade A against 197 in 2015.

“Cumulatively the total number of candidates who obtained grade C remained almost the same, or better showed a slight negative change of 0.87 per cent of 32.54 against 33.4 in 2015,” she said.

Dr Dow said it was clear that there was a gap as the JCE results have demonstrated a disturbing consistency in the 30 – 35  per cent range.

She further commented the teachers, parents, students of the 26 schools that have obtained 50 per cent and more pass rates across the country.

“A special recognition goes to top 3 schools being Nanogang Junior Secondary School with a pass rate of 73.9, Orapa JSS with 72.1 per cent and Makhubu JSS with 68.6 per cent.

This demonstrates that it is possible and that all the schools have potential to achieve good grades in JCE.

I would like to encourage those that fell below,” she said.

She commended Nanogang JSS for its consistency and continuity in performance, adding that it was a role model to other schools and further encouraged other schools, parents and pupils to emulate them.

Dr Dow further noted that Music, Religious Education, Design and Technology, Physical Education and Art showed a percentage increase in cumulative percentage of candidates reaching grade C or better.

She also said there was a significant decline in Home Economics, Social Studies, Setswana, English and Commerce when comparing the 2015 to 2016 results.

“All subjects in the section of Art obtained a cumulative of less than 50 per cent at grade C or better,” she said.

Dr Dow further stated that they have also seen consistencies that have been seen over the years that, females continued to outperform their male counterparts in overall A to C grades.

“We have also noted that the South East region recorded the highest proportion of candidates obtaining a grade A to C.

We have to find out what interventions are in place there and also what can be learnt from that region,” she said.

Dr Dow however said her Ministry was working towards conducting a tracer study for candidates progressing from primary school leaving certificate (PSLE) which will help them understand if pupils were improving or becoming poorer as they transited from primary to secondary.

“We need to find out if we are accepting into mainstream, pupils who should otherwise be receiving specialised education.

We also want to find out if automatic progression has an impact as pupils proceed to the next stage before having mastered the one they are currently in,” she said.

She noted that, resources, unsatisfactory remuneration and conditions of work shall always affect every economy, adding that, however it was not a good excuse for ‘us’ not to exert ‘ourselves’ collectively and fully to educate ‘our’ children.

For his part, the Botswana Examinations Council, chief executive officer Professor Brian Mokopakgosi said improvement in teaching and learning was a complex process which may take much longer for the inputs to mature.

He dismissed the assumptions made by some people that, performance have immediately declined, saying it was not true as the results have remained constant.

“I think we are all aware that the results have not been good.

They have been stable in the lower rank and we would like to see them going up.

One of the things that you should also bear in mind is that we transformed the curriculum,” he said. BOPA