Described as one of the most disturbing Junior Certificate Examination (JCE) results Botswana has yet seen, the latest ones sent ripples of shock, sparking comments of utter disbelief across the country. Parents, friends, even students themselves, struggled to come to terms with the sheer number of students who face being shut out of form four.
According to information published by Botswana Examinations Council (BEC), out of a total of 38,385 students who sat for the JCE exams, 22, 000 of that number failed to meet the entry requirements into BGCSE. Only five students managed to obtain a merit grade; 590 obtained grade A; 4 722 grade B; 10320 grade C; 13 031 grade D; 4 724 grade E, and 4 996 grade U.
The latest chapter in the saga involving the Ministry of Education and Skills Development (MoESD) and BEC has many worried that Botswana’s education system is coming apart at the seams. Yet the latest results just served to confirm a trend: over the last few years, the JEC results have been on a downward spiral.
As the media went to town with the story, the blame game swirled all around, between the MoESD, BEC and the teachers. Parents, whose taxes go towards education, demanded to know why the grades had sunk to an all-time low. As fear that their children would not make it to form four saddled scores of parents, the media raised searching questions. Who was to blame for the mess? What did it say about the direction Botswana’s education is taking?
On the one hand, it was argued that the new standard based procedure for grading, a response to the new curriculum introduced by MoESD in 2010, played a large part in the poor results. However, David Tatsatsi, deputy permanent secretary in the ministry, dismissed this argument out of hand.
Meantime, the Department of Education Planning Research Service will probe the issue in an attempt to find answers that will throw more light on why the results were so pitiful. “We have not yet looked at the results. We are about to compile results from each region then analyse them and do thorough investigations,” said Senior Research Officer, Elizabeth Ranganai.
In the shrill debate raised over the issue, somehow the student’s side of the story, the sentiments of the very people at the centre of this disaster, was forgotten.
There are many who say students should carry a fair share of the blame for the sheer mess of the latest JEC results. By paying a little more attention in class and giving themselves ample to time to prepare for the exams.
Early last year, teachers in some parts of the country went on strike in protest against their low salaries. The strike went on for a two weeks, forcing many students to study and revise for their final exams on their own. It was a situation that brought angry students on the streets for protest.
Indeed, students have been caught in the cross fire of the war between teachers and the government.
Those mostly affected by the strike where those studying in the rural areas of the country where they already face other issues such as lack of proper reading resources and in some cases, poor learning environments.
Because of their low salaries and also poor teaching environments, teachers somewhat lacked the motivation and drive to put in their all. Their cries to the government for better salaries and working environments fell on deaf ears, and once again, the students paid the price when the teachers went on strike.
Teachers have to stand in front of a class of 40-plus students. Many repeatedly complain how demoralising this is as they are unable to give adequate attention to students and unable large numbers of pupils at once. This could be linked to the shortage of classrooms and teaching space.
With so many students below the admission grade, it’s still unclear whether students will have to re-sit the exams or whether the admission grade will be lowered. However, the feeling is strong, despite the ministry’s denial, that the new marking system literary failed the students. Had they been marked with the old system, the D’s and U’s that these students got could have easily been C’s and B’s.
Parents and students feel introduction of a new syllabus for all junior secondary schools in 2010 could have also contributed to the poor results. There could be some truth in this, because the JCE results took a turn for the worst just around that time.
The new syllabus plus the teachers going on strike could have resulted in the syllabus not being completed by the time exams came around. Students complained of how there was no old material to refer to or revise with as the new syllabus was “fresh out of the box”, so to say. There have however been suggestions that the syllabus for some schools was only revised last year.
Percy Jenamo, a former form 3 student at Motopi CJSS in Motopi Village near Maun, says the syllabus was not complete by the time they sat for exams. He adds that out of the seven subjects, they only completed the syllabus for three and they were unfamiliar with quite a number of things when exams came around because they were seeing some of the material for the first time.
Another contributing factor could be the lack of parental involvement. Over the years, the number of parents who attend Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) meetings and open days has decreased drastically. It takes more than a good school to educate a child. Some parents are too busy or caught up with their own lives that they tend to pay little or no attention to how their child is progressing at school. Research has shown that children whose parents show an interest in their school tend to excel more than those that don’t.
Because of lack of parental involvement, some students are not disciplined enough to focus on school or work hard at it. Most of them spend their times on social networks or going out and ignore their books until there is little or no time left.
Granted, the BEC’s new grading system had a few glitches, but it can neither be blamed solely for nor is it the initial cause or a contributing factor to the poor results. Among its glitches were cases of some students being given the wrong grades or grades for subjects they were not examined on.
To be sure, the new system has just proven how much work and attention the country’s education system needs.
All told, the 2011/2012 JCE results may be the poorest that this country has seen, but they highlight the importance of a joint effort in education. The role of education does not fall solely on the government’s shoulders. It is about teamwork, involving parents, teachers and the government. If one member of the team does not carry their weight, then a domino effect occurs.
