16 Jul 2019

The Botswana Qualifications Authority (BQA) has developed Protection of Enrolled Learner (PEL) Guidelines with respect to learner protection.

The Assistant Minister of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology, Mr Moiseraele Goya, said this when responding to a question in Parliament from Francistown East MP, Mr Buti Billy.

BQA’s mandate, Mr Goya said, was to provide for and maintain the National Credit and Qualifications Framework (NCQF) and to coordinate the education, training and skills development quality assurance system from early childhood to tertiary level (lifelong learning). “As part of the process of delivering on its mandate, the BQA developed policies, regulations and guidelines to guide both Education Training Providers (ETPs) and learners.

This is pursuant to Part II, section 4 sub section 2(s) of the Act which states that: the Authority shall design procedures and rules for the PEL,” he said.

Further to that, assistant minister said Regulation 14 of the BQA (Accreditation of Learning Programmes) Regulations (2016), provided for ETPs to put arrangements in place for the protection of enrolled learners, who had begun, but not completed the learning programmes, where the provider ceased to provide the learning programme for any reason(s).

Through these Guidelines, Mr Goya said the Authority ensured that learners were provided with adequate and accurate information about learning programmes that they wished to pursue and about the protection in place for them in the event that the learning programme ceased to exist prior to completion.

Additionally, he said the BQA assured learners of an opportunity to complete a learning programme leading to the qualification or part qualification that they enrolled into.

Where a programme ceases to exist or the institution is unable to offer a programme, for whatever reason, he said the ETP was obligated to find an alternative programme for the students or refund them accordingly.

In instances where an alternative programme was sought, assistant minister said the BQA was engaged to ensure that learners were enrolled in an accredited programme, at the right level.

When learners are not satisfied with the treatment they receive from an ETP, he said they were at liberty to report the matter to BQA through the SRC or individually.

During the 2018/2019, he indicated that “BQA has received 23 complaints and the following measures were applied in order to address this matter: BQA investigated the complaints, where non-compliance was identified the providers were directed to submit corrective action, the authority continues to monitor implementation of the corrective action plans to ensure that the gaps identified are fully addressed and where the ETP fails to effectively implement corrective action BQA may suspend or revoke accreditation and therefore no new enrollment will be allowed,” he added.  

Mr Billy has asked  Mr Goya to explain how BQA protected learners from being academically victimised by academic institutions and measures in place to protect the learners. Ends