The council was launched yesterday at the Ministry of Education headquarters in Gaborone. It succeeded the Examinations, Research and Testing Division (ERTD) of the Department of Curriculum Development and Evaluation. “We acknowledge the sterling job which the ERTD has done since 1994 in carrying out the task with which BEC is being charged with today. We shall build on the firm foundations laid by ERTD,” Melamu asserted at the launch. He said that the council would apply itself to the task with devotion, single mindedness and professionalism.
He said he is certain that everybody in the governing council has a clear understanding that they have no truck with mediocrity. Melamu said that BEC must be seen to be at par with similar councils elsewhere.
It must be alive to its important roles in the realisation of the Ministry of Education’s vision. “It is also crucially important to make our examinations system conscious of the needs of the learners. The system must be learner - centred, and we shall as a council, use our best endeavours to explore ways to bring this to fruition of a world-class provider of quality, accessible and equitable lifelong education and training,” he said.
He asserted that in making this pledge, they are fully seized of the importance of ensuring that the educators in the schools entrusted with the obligation of producing quality graduates, are provided with the wherewithal to realise the goal.
Malemu emphasised that there are several critical housekeeping matters, which they need to resolve to get the council operating. “First, the members will need to familiarise themselves with what the ERTD has been doing over the last several years. Fortunately, some of the members of BEC have been involved in the work of the ERTD, so their experience will be most valuable. Secondly, we shall have to deal with the organisational structure of the council, which will provide the framework on which human resources and finance decisions will be based.”
He said that the council would have to consider documents that will govern the operations of the council such as the job profiles and conditions of service.
When officially launching the council, the Minister of Education, Jacob Nkate said that the need for a professional body with the capacity to take responsibility for the development, management and conduct of national examinations was first identified by the National Commission on Education of 1977.
He said that the establishment of the examinations council means that the ministry “can now concentrate on its core business of developing a world-class human resource. This it will do through designing and delivering quality curriculum. The delivery of quality education and training will be through installation of performance improvement measures as outlined in my strategic plan which is presently being cascaded to school level.”
Nkate revealed that annual performance targets for different examinations will be set and form part of each teacher’s performance Development Plan from January 2006.
The performance year for teachers will run from January to December. Nkate revealed that BEC would be a Ministry of Education agent empowered to conduct examinations and issue certificates. BEC will conduct the Standard Four attainment test, the Primary School Leaving Examinations, the Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education and any other internal and external examinations currently administered by ERTD.
