The 2017 research study by Judith Mungoo titled “Gender and Achievement in Botswana’s Basic Education: Exploring boys’ Underachievement” acknowledges that as a result of a healthy economy, government has been able to provide reasonable educational facilities across the country.
However, providing schools with uniform resources may be the first step towards the realisation of educational equality although resources are importantly not a guarantee for successful teaching and learning or equal treatment of learners to derive value from the education system.
According to the research paper, Botswana’s education system is premised on the principle of equality and educational opportunity and the Revised National Policy on Education (RNPE) and the Inclusive Education Policy of 2008 mandates quality education for diverse group of learners including disadvantaged groups such as learners with disabilities.
Therefore, the public education system is expected to ensure equality in educational opportunity. While a good legislative framework forms the basis for practice, “transforming it to tangible results can be difficult”. Most of the envisaged benefits of equitable quality education have not been forthcoming as reports continue to show that some groups of learners under-perform in national examinations.
According to the research paper author, traditionally, the dominant discourse has been the plight of girls in educational participation and achievement. The drive to uplift the girl-child has led the promulgation of policies, often spearheaded by United Nations bodies such as the United Nations Children Educational Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), to address girls’ educational needs.
Consequently, many educational systems have become sensitive and relevant to girls. Whilst western countries have achieved gender parity in education, a new trend of boys’ underachievement began to emerge in the 1990s. Therefore, in some countries, there is reversal of fortunes and policy makers have to go back to the drawing board to spur boys’ achievement.
The discourse of ‘failing’ boys has gained momentum especially in developed countries and governments have responded to the crisis with targeted measures to raise boys’ achievement.
According to Mungoo, the phenomena of boys’ underachievement is less debated and researched in Sub-Saharan Africa. Perhaps this is because the trend is new; and more fundamentally, most African countries are still struggling with the initial problem; of girl’s underachievement.
While Botswana has almost attained universal access to basic education, the challenge is the quality of education as shown by falling Junior Certificate Examinations (JCE) results. However, a closer look at the achievement grades reveals that majority of students at the bottom are boys.
While in Africa the boy child is often perceived as a beneficiary of education systems, “this is not the case in Botswana junior secondary schools”. Form three marks the final year of basic education cycle which is followed by a high stakes examination. Often, JCE grades mark “the beginning or the end of a bright future”.
While gender achievement gaps are fairly narrowed at senior school, poor grades at junior certificate level deny a child a place at senior secondary school, the gateway to higher learning.
Even in cases where students with poor JCE grades are admitted to senior schools, they lack concrete academic foundation, which can curtail their future educational success. Although most countries in Africa lag behind in achieving gender parity in educational participation, Botswana is ahead in this regard as proclaimed by UNESCO in 2010.
However, whilst some studies in Africa show that boys’ outperform girls at all levels of education, or in some subjects, in Botswana, “girls outperform boys in all major subjects at primary and junior secondary level”.
“The implication here is that boys’ underachievement in Botswana is pervasive since they register poor grades in all major subjects which makes their situation vulnerable. Such disparities should be an issue of concern to educational planners since they have implications of boys’ future life prospects. However, as noted earlier, boys’ underachievement in Botswana has not received a lot of attention in public policy debate”, states the research paper.
Several studies have shown that girls tend to have a positive attitude towards school and conform to school expectations compared to boys. Furthermore, some studies have shown differential treatment of learners in the classroom, based on gender. For instance, boys’ misbehaviour result in teachers giving them more attention compared to girls. The unequal treatment affects students’ motivation and self-esteem with boys dominating in class discussions whilst girls underestimate their academic ability.
Generally, most studies have shown that girls are disadvantaged as they are asked less questions and teachers have lower expectations of them compared to boys. Girls also suffer from sexual harassment from boys and teachers as noted by UNICEF in 2000.
The causes of boys’ and girls’ underachievement are unique, contextual and thus to attain gender parity, their unique challenges must be addressed concurrently. More fundamentally the gender and achievement discourse should not be perceived as wider societal gender wars, where one gender is supposed to triumph over the other.
What children need at this stage is a good education to improve their life prospects. And each one of them has a right to be provided with the same especially in the basic education cycle which is a human right. Therefore, there is need for more balanced gender and achievement discourse where each child’s agenda is promoted.
“While it may be unfeasible to attain gender parity in achievement, it is argued that where one gender under-performance is glaring and persistent, it should be interrogated and concrete measures taken to spur their educational success”, states the research study adding that “the phenomenon of boys’ underachievement is generally new in the developing context”.
In Africa, where strong cultural practices and beliefs constrain girls’ educational success; girls remain vulnerable to underachieve. However, the new trend in Botswana “deserves attention since if unchecked such gaps can continue to widen”.
The research study findings show that “boys poor results can be attributed to poor learning environments, indiscipline and lack of motivation all of which either work singularly or collectively leading to poor academic results. Thus, it is suggested that issues leading to boys’ underachievement be addressed at school level to spur their achievement”.
The paper however underscores that “the process of uplifting should not be done at the expense of girls. It is important to consolidate the gains made so far in girls’ education. Therefore, interventions must address both boys and girls to ensure that none is left behind”.
The paper advises Botswana to safeguard the gains made so far in girls’ education but at the same time address boys’ plight. What is prudent at this juncture is to institute a balanced approach characterized by targeted interventions which address boys and girls’ unique educational needs.
This will require school-based interventions such as making schools friendly to boys (and girls) and providing boys (and girls) with the life skills to avoid some negative behaviours which emanate from peer pressure. Central to this endeavour is the need for differentiated data on which boys (and girls) are failing to inform such interventions.
