17 Feb 2019

St Joseph's College has maintained the highest pass rate  in  the BGCSE results despite decrease from 52.2 per cent in 2017 to 47.75 per cent in 2018.

When briefing the media on February 15, Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) executive secretary, Professor Brian Mokopakgosi,  said St Joseph’s College was the only school with more than 40 per cent of the candidates attaining 5Cs or better in two consecutive years.

He said a total of 32 470 candidates sat for the 2018 examinations and 18 933, which was 58.31 per cent, were females while 13 537 (41.69%) were males.

Therefore, there was a decrease of 4 781 in candidature compared to the previous year which had 37 251.

Professor Mokopakgosi noted that at least 1C in all syllabus this year was 67.29 per cent compared to 59.77 per cent in 2017, representing an improvement of 7.52 per cent.

He said this year’s results showed that candidates obtained 5Cs or better, which was 24.6 per cent  compared to 24.1 per cent in 2017 which represents an improvement of 0.5 per cent

“The performance of female candidates continues to be higher compared to performance of male candidates, however male have slightly declined in 2018 in terms of candidates awarded grades 5Cs or better while females have slightly increased. 

The proportion of candidates with 5Cs or better who are females has slightly increased by 0.74 per cent while the male counterparts have slightly decreased by o.74 per cent in 2018,’’ he said.

Professor Mokopakgosi said 11 schools, which showed significant improvement compared to the previous years were Gaborone Secondary School, Matshekge, Moeding, Seepapitso, Tutume, McConnel, Madiba, Matsha, Shoshong, Masunga, Ghanzi and Mahupu.

They improved by 2 per cent in the proportion of candidates awarded 5Cs or better.

He noted that Matsha Community College, Shoshong Senior Secondary School and Ghanzi recorded notable improvements of more than five per cent.

Other schools, which had a significant decline compared to the year 2017 were Maun, Francistown, Kagiso, Nata, Ledumang, Swaneng and Moshupa

Furthermore, Professor Mokopakgosi said nine schools recorded significant decline of 2 per cent in the proportion of candidates who obtained 5Cs or better.

He explained that compared to 2017, government centres had a slight increase in performance at grade C or better of 0.4 per cent while private centres had a relatively high decrease of 1.95 per cent thus the proportion of grade C or better for private was almost half of the government centres.

Professor Mokopakgosi stated that Good Hope Senior Secondary School recorded the lowest percentage of 10.92 per cent of candidates awarded 5Cs or better. ENDS