Boys outperform girls in BGCSE
Pini Bothoko | Monday February 21, 2022 06:00
The overall results indicate a slight improvement at credit grades of C or better with 0.03% from 21.17% in 2020 to 21.20 in 2021. For government schools, this year the overall pass rate from Grade G or better in six syllabuses is at 97.09% showing an insignificant improvement of 0.7% from 96.39% in 2020. Meanwhile, a slight decline of 0.68% has been noted at Grade E or better and an insignificant increase of 0.08% at Grade C or better. Generally the candidates performed at the same level.
Announcing 2021 BGCSE examinations results, Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) board chairperson, Olefile Molwane said the analysis at syllabus level shows that three subjects, Chemistry, Physical Education and Music recorded a 100% from grade G or better while Business Studies continued to record the lowest pass rate at 83.73%. Molwane further stated that the most significantly improved syllabus at overall level was History whilst the most deteriorated is Accounting with a decline of 5.11%.
He added that candidates with outstanding performance who are considered as top achievers with an achievement of at least six A* in 2021 are 17 from 11 centres as compared to 19 A* from 12 centres in 2020. “The top candidate achieved nine A*, one A, a B and a C from 12 syllabuses whilst the 2020 top candidate achieved 11A*s from a total of 11 syllabuses.
The achievement profile of the top candidate in 2019 was eight A*, one A and B from then syllabuses,” Molwane said. Still on the matter, BEC Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Moreetsi Thobega said the schools had to close from July 16 to August 31, 2021 due to the rapid spread of COVID-19 thereby impacting the teaching and learning programmes and as a result impacted the schedules for the moderation and written examinations. Thobega stated that the closure led to timetable changes to address the loss of teaching time. He stated that despite the challenges with COVID-19, the conduct of examinations went relatively well with the exception of a few incidents recorded. “The 2021 examinations like those of 2020 were conducted under the COVID-19 environment but they were successfully despite challenges brought about by the COVID-19 environment. BEC had to shift the examination schedules by at most three weeks to cater for the teaching time lost during the lockdown,” he said.
Thobega further said eight candidates had to miss their Science double award Paper III examination components on October 23, 2021 due to the public transport strike in the Greater Gaborone but were later granted special consideration.
He said another incident of note is that the annual inspections conducted at BGCSE level are usually performed by independent inspectors engaged by Cambridge assessment international education to provide assurance on the BGCSE and Cambridge international examination standards. “Due to travel restrictions effected by countries in response to the COVID-19, the inspectors could not be engaged for the 2021 examinations series as was the case in 2020. So, for the second year running Cambridge international engaged the BEC compliance and quality assurance division to perform inspections of live examinations on their behalf,” Thobega said.
However, Thobega revealed to have recorded seven cases of malpractice as compared to five cases in 2020 cases with investigations ongoing and nearing completion.