Dow clueless over poor junior certificate results
Correspondent | Thursday February 2, 2017 14:57
The previous years have not been impressive either. According to the Chief Executive Officer of Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) there is no need for the nation to be worried since Botswana has recorded poor results for some years now.
Another interesting feature of the results is that the percentage of students who failed the examinations is disproportionately higher in the rural areas compared to the urban and village towns.
After another shocking JC examinations results were announced, the whole nation waited for Unity Dow the Minister of Basic Education to provide answers as to why the majority of students failed to pass the final examinations.
When she finally addressed the nation, it was clear that the Minister had no clue over the real reasons why the country recorded the worst examinations results that are comparable to countries emerging from internal violent conflicts or civil wars. An upper middle income country such as Botswana does not deserve this level of failure of students in final examinations.
With all the resources at her disposal, the Minister resorted to speculations and guesswork in trying to explain the cause of deplorable final examinations results. She was singing the old song of poor stakeholder support resulting in truancy in schools. It is disingenuous for the Minister to attribute the failure rate to resource constraints.
In 2015 Dow was the Minister of Education and Skills Development (MoESD). What came out clear is that following the poor examinations results of 2015, the Minister did not take appropriate interventions to address the problem.
For her it was business as usual. Part of the reason for inaction by the Minister and other Ministers of Education before her towards poor performance of public schools is because they take their children to private schools. Therefore they are not directly affected. Some of them even go to the extent of sending their children to well acclaimed schools outside the country. They have long given up on public schools.
After presiding over successive poor examinations results, it is only now that the Minister is talking about the need to conduct a tracer study. Such a study might determine who passes or fails, but may fail to explain why students pass or fail.
Why conduct a tracer study when factors that affect results are well documented. These include universal access to early childhood education (not school orientation sessions), use of mother tongue as medium of instruction, class size, regular and timely book supply, regular provision of school meals, adequately equipped laboratories and improved conditions of service for teachers. Poor results are also attributable to reduced contact time as a result of the new Public Service Act. The underlying cause of these problems is corruption, wasteful expending and misguided priorities.
The fact that there are disparities between urban and rural schools is an indication that examinations results are negatively affected by inequitable resource allocations. The Minister should be focusing on addressing these gaps instead of wasting resources on a tracer study which may turn out to be a mere academic exercise.
It is a tactic meant to deal with political backlash rather than intended to seriously address the problem at hand.
Schools in the high performing category are an exception. In research terminology, they are outliers.
Such schools are usually inundated with requests from parents who wish to transfer children who are excellent performers from poor performing schools. This gives them an advantage to enrol the best performing students.
It will be unrealistic to think that the performance of such schools can be replicated in other situations.
An issue that requires serious interrogation is the assessment methods implemented by the BEC. Grades obtained from a normal population of students must follow a normal distribution pattern.
In other words, there should be a few children who are excelling and a similar number of students who are not. The majority of students should converge around an average passing grade.
In our view an assessment system that fails to produce grades that follow a normal distribution trend is invalid and must be discarded forthwith.
Apart from her obsession with a tracer study, the Minister did not tell the nation what will happen to 28,291 out of 41 938 students who failed the JC examinations. The consequences of denying Batswana children quality education will be felt in many years to come.
Botswana could find herself faced with an increased ageing population while the economy experiences a shrinking population in gainful employment capable of paying tax to sustain a high social welfare bill.
In Botswana public pre-primary, primary and secondary schools attract children of parents from a low income working class background, Ipelegeng beneficiaries as well as struggling peasant farmers. Consequently Botswana is characterised by an education system that discriminates students based on social class.
Children graduating from public schools are more likely to be engaged in Ipelegeng, Green Scorpions, Tirelo Sechaba, Cluster Volunteers, and Special Constables while those from private schools become accountants, lawyers, financial consultants, bankers etc. Hence a staggering income inequality that is comparable to countries like Brazil. Children from public schools are more likely to be poor during adult life.
Poor education is the root cause of unemployment, underemployment, and poverty. It is a system that is a product of the ideology of the ruling party.
*Dr Kesitegile Gobotswang (PhD) is the BCP deputy leader