03 Mar 2021

All processes were carried out in a manner that ensured that every candidate was able to access the 2020 BGCS examinations despite the COVID-19 pandemic,  says Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) chief executive officer Professor Brian Mokopakgosi. 

Briefing the media in Gaborone on Tuesday, Prof Mokopakgosi said together with the stakeholders, BEC worked on standardizing the administration of examinations across the centres to ensure adherence to health protocols and that no one was disadvantaged. 

Some 375 people living with disabilities managed to sit for examinations, he said.

Prof Mokopakgosi said registration of centres and candidates, distribution of examination material and dispatch of candidates’ scripts back to BEC was done successfully. 

“The moderation of coursework went smoothly and was completed on time. There were no major incidents recorded as most centres submitted marks as expected,” he said. 

He however stated that three centres had to remark course work.  Prof Mokopakgosi said BEC compliance and quality assurance division was engaged by Cambridge International to assist in the inspection of virtual examinations to ensure compliance with, among other issues, security. 

A few cases of malpractice and mal-administration were investigated and dealt with according to laid down procedures, he said. 

The BEC chief said marking of 2020 BGCSE was conducted in centres across the country being Gaborone, Kanye and Palapye to reduce the number of examining personnel per point in view of the COVID-19 health protocols. 

He said 1 344 examiners were recruited for marking.

Prof Mokopakgosi explained that the provisional results period remained six weeks after the release date to give candidates time to view and query at a fee of P380 per syllabus. 

Meanwhile Prof Mokopakgosi has raised concern regarding the public’s interpretation of results. 

He explained that Grade C or better were credit passes at all levels of basic education being PSLE, JCE and BGCSE.

Grade E or better were pass grades at PSLE and JCE while Grade G or better were pass grades at BGCSE level, he said. 

Prof Mokopakgosi stated that BEC never released the entire candidature’s results to the nation in any form. 

“Like any similar organisations, the students’ performance is treated as private and confidential. Other than the candidate centre, any other person wishing to access an individual candidate’s results can only do so with the consent of the candidate,” he said. 

He therefore advised the public to ignore any circulating PDF files purportedly containing names and results. Ends