23 Nov 2017

Botswana is the first country in the SADC region to accomplish the LPLUS Online Examinations System, which was officially inaugurated on November 22 at the Sir Seretse Khama International Airport (SSKIA).

LPUS is an e-exam system for professional Aviation Platform adopted across the aviation industry for professional licenses issued by civil aviation authorities that include pilots, cabin crew, air traffic controllers, aircraft engineers and aircraft dispatcher licenses.

Civil Aviation Authority of Botswana (CAAB) chairperson, Mr Mark Sampson says CAAB was required to conduct the examinations for the issuance of their licenses to meet International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) requirements, adding that the use of the new system had introduced improvements over the previous paper-based examinations, which included the efficient marking and administrative procedures, and the provision of knowledge-based Deficiency Reporting to each candidate when applicable.

“The system supports the organisation of mandatory aviation examinations by aviation schools. These will be carried out online via examinees IT equipment and use of reduced human resource personnel interactions as much as possible for examination surveillance,” he said.

Mr Sampson said currently CAAB examinations were administered in Gaborone at SSKIA, but noted that the plan was for the authority to roll-out a second examination centre in Maun to be administered remotely online from a central location at SSKIA.

He said it was in line with the ICAO ongoing initiative of ‘no country left behind’ campaign to improve safety rankings by utilising the services offered through various ICAO-adopted initiatives.

“The exam system will allow for the candidates to sit for different exams in the same room at the same time and receive results immediately after completion,” Mr Sampson said.

Mr Sampson further said the system would enhance Botswana’s compliance to the international standards of examination administration within the aviation industry and meet the ICAO standards and recommended practices.

He mentioned how CAAB was not administering some of the examinations in-house and that was a caurse for an automatic safety concern.

Mr Sampson said the launch was happening five months before Botswana went through another comprehensive ICAO Audit in May 2018.

He noted that Botswana in the last few years had intensified efforts on improving the implementation of the ICAO safety and Security Standards and Recommended Practices (SARPS), and therefore called upon all who would be getting involved in the preparation of the audit to put the country first before anything else.

For his part, CAAB chief executive officer, Mr Geoffrey Moshabeshe mentioned how it was a challenge installing the system and convincing the people how efficient and important it would be to have the system in place.

He also expressed how shortage of human resource was affecting the organisation’s operations, especially when it came to marking examinations, which would take them up to three weeks to complete.

Mr Moshabesha appreciated how the system would make it easy for them to compete on an international arena. ENDS