Restoring Lost Hope For Failed Students

ISAAC PINIELO
Correspondent | Friday April 9, 2010 00:00

 

In his own words, even his own family as well as friends had given up on him.

'My parents thought the idea of repeating would be a waste of money as they had lost hope in me. They thought I would never make it, so I was more determined to prove them wrong,' he said enthusiastically.

His results indeed proved them wrong. He got 'Stars' in Double Science, Commerce and Social Studies, a 'B' in Mathematics and a 'C' in English. The 20-year-old form five school leaver preformed badly in the previous BGCSE examinations he had written at Francistown Secondary School.

Motshoganetsi had not done well in Mathematics, Double Science, English, Social Studies and Commerce. Considering that he would not qualify for the Geology course he had wanted to pursue at the University of Botswana (UB), he decided to convince his parents to pay for him at a private school, Tabitha Secondary School, so that he could supplement his poor results.

Said Motshoganetsi: 'The moment I finished writing this examination, my instincts told me that I had passed. This was because I knew I had worked so hard and had made a lot of sacrifices in my life. Even God was on my side.'

Motshoganetsi is not the only student whose hopes have been restored by writing supplementary examinations. Among the many students of Tabitha Secondary School that did exceptionally well in the recent examinations are Otsile Lephalo, Keolebogile Moleti and Leroy Maraire.Tabitha Secondary School deputy principal, Kuda Sibanda was equally jubilant with the performance of students at her school. She revealed to The Monitor that most of the students admitted at their school, are those that are regarded as hopeless students because most of them would have failed in government schools while others have been rejected.

'We then take it upon ourselves to mould them again into acceptable students,' she said. Out of the total of 141 students who sat for Cambridge examinations, 60 had started with Tabitha Secondary School while the rest were repeaters from different government senior secondary schools. Sibanda said this 60 mostly comprises foreigners from neighbouring countries.

She pointed out that Form Fives write a different number of subjects, depending on how many they want to upgrade, which makes it difficult to calculate the overall pass rate. 'But the individual grades are so pleasing because students who had Ds, Es and Fs from previous exams actually improved into Stars, As, Bs and Cs,' said Sibanda.

In the Junior Certificate level, she indicated that out of the 53 students who sat for examinations, 51 had passed while only two failed. The pass rate is pegged at 96 percent.

Sylvia Muzila, who owns the school noted that most of the students admitted at her school are mostly problematic ones. She said most of them are not well behaved, are dropouts and those that did not pass.

'We assess them before admission and most of the time the teachers spend time doing guidance and counselling to ensure that the students do their school work,' said Muzila, who is also former Francistown District Commissioner.

She said they have restored hope in students many of whom have advanced to local tertiary institutions, as well as to countries such as Malaysia, USA, Australia and Canada.