In the build up to two major events in the Botswana Examinations Council (BEC)’s calendar, the BEC has launched a nationwide fundraising campaign to raise sufficient funds to host the 30th Annual Association of Educational Assessment in Africa (AAEAA) and the 3rd annual BEC 2012 Excellence Awards for Top Achievers of the 2011 Examinations.
As part of the road map towards these events, the BEC hosted a corporate breakfast where Executive Secretary, Serara Moahi, explained that the excellence awards, which are scheduled for May, “were crafted to celebrate achievements, confidence aspirations and improve motivation for students”.
Regarding the awards, the Manager of the Directorate of Product Development and Standards, Dorcas Morake, indicated that there are 76 excellence awards from the three categories of exams and these are: the Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE/Standard 7), the Junior Certificate of Education (JCE/Form 3) and the Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE/Form 5). From these three categories top ten achievers and the top performers in various subjects will be awarded.
For the AAEAA, of which the Botswana Examinations Council is an affiliate, it will be for the first time the convention will be hosted in Botswana. According to the Product Development Officer under the Directorate of Product Development and Standards, Mr Oteng Otukile, a Local Organising committee has been appointed to spearhead the organising of this 5-day convention, which will be held in August 2012. The theme for this year’s conference will be focusing on “Reforms in Educational Assessment for Regional Development.”
The AAEAA is comprised of a network of examinations boards in Africa, predominantly from sub Saharan Africa.
The Botswana Examinations Council has, therefore, made a plea to government, parastatals, private companies, media houses and Batswana at large to aide them in raising funds in order to successfully host both the Excellence Top Achievers Awards and the AAEAA conference. This will enable Botswana, “To build a stable, prosperous and globally competitive nation,” said Moahi.
