09 Jul 2017

Parliament has passed the motion calling for the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry into the falling education results in the country.

The motion, by Gaborone Central MP, Dr Phenyo Butale called for a thorough investigation on the causes of the continued poor results at the various levels of Botswana’s education system.

Contributing to the debate on the matter on Friday,  Francistown MP, Mr Wynter Mmolotsi said education not only shaped the nation, but also determined its destiny.

He said it was for this reason that it was crucial that all stakeholders took it seriously.

Mr Mmolotsi said while there had been slight improvements in education results here and there, there had been a general downward spiral in the results since 2008.

He thus said an independent commission of inquiry was necessary to find the root cause of the problem.

He noted that at the moment it was unclear whether the problem was teacher-related or tied to the resource limitations under which schools were operating.

Agreeing with the call for a commission of inquiry into the matter, MP Ndaba Gaolathe of Gaborone/Bonnington South said a comprehensive and definitive assessment of the cause of the problem was necessary.

Mr Gaolathe said none of the studies undertaken so far in relation to the matter had managed to establish the extent to which such matters as low teacher morale and lack of appropriate facilities had impacted on education results.

The legislator also expressed concern that the culture of peer support among learners had died.

He said none of the studies made so far had come up with suggestions aimed at attempting to re-ignite that.

MP Haskins Nkaigwa of Gaborone North said the commission would help the country to chart forward on the issue of ensuring consistent good education results as it would delve deeper into the root causes of the problem.

Mr Nkaigwa said the poor results that have come out of the education system could not be allowed to go on unaddressed.

Making his own contribution, Palapye MP, Mr Moiseraele Goya said the commission of inquiry was not necessary as the causes of the poor results were already known.

He said independent organisations such as University of Botswana (UB) and the Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) had conducted studies on the cause of the unsatisfactory performance of schools.

He said because of the research done so far, the Ministry of Basic Education had already come up with intervention strategies to remedy the situation.

MP Goya thus stated that setting up a commission of inquiry would be a duplication of on-going efforts aimed at addressing the problem.

Dr Alfred Madigele of Mmathethe/Molapowabojang also disagreed with the motion.

He also said independent entities had carried out studies into the matter, noting it was therefore unnecessary to establish the commission of inquiry.

Dr Madigele however emphasised the importance of recognising that not all learners were academically gifted, hence the need to encourage learners to be open to possibilities of venturing into different pathways as they progressed with their education.

Earlier when making his presentation, Dr Butale said education results were continuously plummeting.

He said the nation was currently seized with a problem that needed an urgent, but lasting solution.

MP Butale said it was necessary to look into such issues as conditions of service of teachers, resource limitations in schools and effects of automatic progression of learners to higher levels of learning.

The MP said the issue of poor results had clearly reached crisis level, noting that it was sad that the nation continued flooding the streets with young people who had failed their studies.

Observing that the problem was a ticking time bomb, he noted further that because of their bleak future, the young people were becoming increasingly agitated.

The legislator said what compounded the problem was the lack of job prospects in the country.

He indicated that because university graduates had in recent years also become affected by the high rate of unemployment, the situation had become even more hopeless for those who failed at the lower levels of the education system. ENDS