09 Mar 2021

The grading of the 2020 BGSCE examinations followed international best practices and were standardised on a syllabus based qualification with no aggregation.

Speaking during a televised press briefing in Gaborone on Monday, Minister of Basic Education, Mr Fidelis Molao said the conduct of the examinations was exemplary as the education system had been challenged by COVID-19.

He said they were doing everything they could to ensure the implementation of the outcome based education system. He said the system would grade pupils based on their capabilities and not their academic success.

The chief executive officer of Botswana Examinations Council (BEC), Professor Brian Mokopakgosi said it was important for all stakeholders to understand how examinations were graded.

He said recent comments from members of the public showed that they did not understand how the examinations were graded. He added that it led to a lot of complaints that had no merit.

He noted that there were three ways of marking examinations, saying an automated system was used to mark multiple choice questions.

He said another method was moderation of coursework by teachers in their centres as well as the use of contracted teachers.

Prof. Mokopakgosi noted that all the three processes were vetted and standardised to ensure fairness and credibility across all syllabuses, further noting that teachers were also trained to ensure uniformity in marking.

He also said there was a grace period of six weeks for pupils to query their marks.ENDS