Let it be a year of an 'Educated and Informed Nation'

Baboki Kayawe | Wednesday January 8, 2014 15:54

The fact that grade 'D' became a good result in our land makes certain that access takes precedence over quality.  This was a first in the history of our system, when the Minister of Education and Skills Development Dr Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, proclaimed grade 'D' a pass. In her words, she said: 'Bana ba ba pasitse.'

Maybe I should at this juncture deviate from the new status that 'D' attained, and say what a jealous nation we have turned out to be.  If memory serves me right, sometime in 2012 Venson-Moitoi was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Limkokwing University in Malaysia, but has since not been addressed with her new title.  This thing jealousy stinks I tell you. It is very true then that a prophet is never one in his hometown.  Let Dr Venson-Moitoi be accorded the honour she deserves.

A true doctor of knowledge and leadership she is, and so far her management of an office most dubbed the 'exit ministry' speaks to that.  When she ascended to the ministerial seat, talk was thick and fast that her ladyship ought to ask her predecessor, Jacob Nkate, how the education ministry was a recipe to vacate cabinet.   It was pretty clear that she was being warned not to be comfortable while there.  Without turning to the tutelage of TB Joshua or any other prophet, I do not foresee our Dr Venson-Moitoi leaving office in 2014.

Let us forget the bafflement that enveloped the nation when it was announced that 'D' joins the ranks of good grades.  Part of what lead to the beyond redemption JCE results was the new grading system that the Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) introduced last year. Just as Venson-Moitoi would have it, examiners and educators consented that under the new marking regime, students had passed.  The standard based system, as those in the curriculum and assessment field call it, unlike the previous one (the non-referenced system), reflects a truer picture of the candidates' performance.  In a way it worked for a year of worst performances.

 The highest mark among the cohort earned the highest grade, which wasn't fair, and not a real picture of this year's general performance.  The system under use is not influenced by the general performance of the candidature in a given year.

It was the right thing, or rather politically correct thing to do.  In this era one shouldn't strive towards being right, rather strive for political correctness.  It is then politically correct for Dr Venson-Moitoi to declare, a whopping 22,623 candidates who obtained grades D to U, geniuses.

 She did not only stop there, while some transited to senior secondary education, others were absorbed in the Back-To-School initiative.  Many more were sent to brigades and vocational colleges, while others were sponsored for the school equivalency with BOCODOL.  Venson-Moitoi cared not what people would say.  She put her political career on the line only to do the right thing for our sisters, brothers, sons, daughters, cousins and nephews.

Imagine 15- and 16-year-olds roaming these dangerous and merciless streets in search of their next meal - a thought I might add that is disheartening. 

Forecast to early 2015 when BEC releases the 2014 Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Examinations (BGSCE) the majority of us, particularly the doubting Thomases, would eat humble pie.  Historians, accountants, lawyers, journalists, policy makers, fashion designers and all professions man has ever invented under the sun would emerge from those we had wanted the system to reject.  Remember, these students had 'passed'.

Another welcome development was the announcement that automatic progression pupils from primary to junior secondary school would soon be a thing of the past, instead students who do not perform well would repeat Standard Seven.  Repeating at Standard Seven was discontinued some years ago to implement a system in which all Standard Seven students progressed to Form One despite their performance at the Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE) level. 

I don't know if it was done in the southern region, but where I am from repeating students adopted English names.  I remember mates who later became Juliet, Michael, Tobiah, Norah and so on. 

These mates were either formerly known as Golelamang, Mathata, Otlaathusa or Dira.  Perhaps it was meant for the system not to reject them or rather not to confuse the new system - you do know how systems around here are quickly down or not able to accept things they perceive redundant.  Whatever the reason, the whole exercise was crucial for giving others a second chance in life.

'Learners who will not make it even after application of breakthrough and remedial teaching will be made to repeat Standard Four,' said Venson-Moitoi in the announcement.  Second chances are not only essential in love affairs, they are important in all quarters of life. They are a reminder to people to fully apply themselves, recognise the confidence others and/or the authorities have in them.  As a result they always outdo themselves the second time around and avoid a repeat of disappointing others.

This is good.  The 'white paper from Gaborone' used to be repeated during our time and it was a critical litmus test for a breakthrough. But today things are a little different.  Students fail even to have clear and proper handwriting even when they are at the upper classes of primary school.  Is 'Mokwalo' still a 'subject' at lower primary?  I recommend my Standard Two teacher Neo Tuelo to head a Department of Handwriting within the Department of Pre- and Primary Education should there be a call for applications. 

I bet she would transform the whole nation into natural calligraphers.

 That she is a great breakthrough teacher is an understatement.  I look at the font Verdana occasionally and think to myself that is my handwriting. Steve Jobs has admitted to Walter Isaacson, his biographer, that good artists copy and great artists steal... they stole my handwriting!

These are just some of the interventions the education ministry has put in place to improve performance in schools.  Teachers' housing and training have been at the top of Dr Venson-Moitoi's agenda as well. I appeal to those teachers who are still sharing to continue with the spirit of cooperation and togetherness, to avoid brouhahas and wait patiently upon the Lord, for He has answered them already. Lo and behold, your Levels of Operations (LOO) dues shall be credited once the payroll system is in order.

It shall be fixed, just like the complex web-based application to process national examinations, MALEPA, was put in order, and let us hope it is fixed for good. By the way, I just hope that this MALEPA is not the one withholding the 2013 JCE results. We cannot as a people afford to go back to a system, which fails to live to the adage, 'you reap what you sow'.  How on earth does one get apples where they had sown bananas, really? 

And please MALEPA let our children not get grades for CAPA, French and Music - subjects they never did! Have a prosperous 2014!