President Khama�s Speech At The Top Achievers Awards
| Monday July 14, 2014 16:36
The purpose is not only to recognise and celebrate the achievements of outstanding performers, but also to serve as encouragement to those who may not be doing so well to do better. While very few receive these awards, others out there aspire to receive them the next time. This is the positive side of excellence awards.
The Botswana Examinations Council awards, given in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Skills Development, are no different. They are given to students whose performance in the Primary School Leaving Examinations, Junior Certificate Examinations and the Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education is outstanding. The expectation is that those who are still in the primary and secondary schools system would be motivated to work harder and perform better so that they could be recognised during the next award ceremony.
This ceremony also provides an opportunity to celebrate outstanding performance of some schools and Parents and Teachers’ Associations. With the expanded mandate of the Botswana examinations Council in future, there will be opportunity to also celebrate outstanding performance in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training sector.
We attach serious importance to this year’s excellence awards. They come against the backdrop of the unacceptable performance in general education examinations. The decline is not only experienced in Botswana, it is a global phenomenon experienced by different countries due to a variety of factors.
No one can celebrate when our young people fail to reach desired achievement levels. However, we take solace in the fact that the results made us pause and introspect. For the Botswana Examinations Council, questions were raised on the grading system and the extent to which teachers were familiar with it. On the other hand, the Ministry of Education, there were questions on the curriculum and related elements. There were also serious questions about the physical environment including the condition of classrooms and laboratories in the schools and their conduciveness to learning.
Early this year, I directed that Members of Cabinet as well as senior officials visit some schools with a view to conducting an assessment of the teaching and learning environment. The findings of such visits confirmed the above observations. I have, in this regard established working committees at different levels to work with the ministry to resolve the issues at hand, find durable solutions so as to improve performance.
Against this backdrop, a committee of senior officials chaired by the Permanent Secretary to the President is in place and reports to a committee of Ministers chaired by the Vice President, who in turn reports to me.
Regarding conditions of service for teachers in particular, government has now implemented levels of operation whereby teachers are paid in accordance with their qualifications and experience rather than whether they are at the primary or secondary school levels. The project on procurement of teachers’ housing is on course to ensure appropriate accommodation wherever they are.
The lessons that have been learnt are many and very positive. It has now become very clear that all stakeholders in the business of educating this nation need to work together in a more collaborative manner than ever before. It can no longer be enough for the BEC to function only as a gauge or “dip stick” at the end of a process.
There is also greater need for the BEC to work closely with the MOESD to ensure that curriculum is delivered properly, within a conducive teaching and learning environment, and that it relates directly to assessment. With students, parents, teachers and the wider communities playing their respective roles, we should be able to turn the situation around within a reasonable timeframe.
I am very pleased that all this is happening when more concerted initiatives are underway to transform and reform the entire education sub-sector. The MOESD is currently finalising, with support from the EU, a sector strategic plan that will turn the sector around. There is also a turn-around strategy that is intended to change the situation in management of schools in the short term. These efforts collectively should result in positive changes in educational performance.
The Botswana Examinations Council has also begun a major transformation exercise that should see it turn into a high performance National Assessment Authority by 2016. Its Bill is expected to be discussed in Parliament in due course. The transformation will not only transform BEC into a high performance organisation, it will also produce a national assessment policy that should assist in monitoring learning at various critical points in general education, through programmes such as national assessment to provide general system level feedback and monitoring of learning achievement of different cohorts of learners at different stages in the schooling system.
In conclusion, it is also quite encouraging to note that corporate entities and some individuals continue to support schools through the ‘Adopt-a-School’ initiative and that improved performance is evident at some of these schools.
I wish to furthermore emphasise the need for parents and the wider communities to work with government towards improving performance of the education system so that we can realise our national goals of equitable, accessible and quality education.