Rammidi attacks motion on exam crisis

LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent | Monday December 6, 2010 00:00

 

Rammidi was contributing to a debate in Parliament on Friday on the motion tabled by the MP for Francistown South, Wynter Mmolotsi. He said according to the Leader of the Opposition, Botsalo Ntuane, the aim of the motion was to gain public support the Botswana Movement for Democracy (BMD).   Rammidi said it was unfortunate that teachers and their unions should be divided by parties like the BMD.

Rammidi said he was surprised by the media onslaught on the MP for Tonota North, Fidelis Molao, after he said the motion was palying up to the gallery.

Rammidi there was no need for a commission of inquiry. 'We are aware of the problems.

We will find a way to deal with them,' he said, adding that the people of his constituency had never complained of any examination crisis.

He said the High Court ruling that it was not part of the teachers' duties to invigilate examinations did not mean that students should not write exams or that the world was coming to an end. He slammed teachers' unions for intimidating teachers who wanted to invigilate. Rammidi said if students had not written the exams, he would be calling for the sacking of the Minister of Education.

In his view, there might have been a crisis if students had not written their exams. However, the ministry had done something to save the situation, he said.

'We are not denying that there were problems, but it was not a crisis as the motion suggests,' Rammidi continued. He said in future, the Botswana Examination Council (BEC) should not engage members' of unions as invigilators.

But the MP for the Okavango, Bagalatia Aaron, gainsaid Rammidi:  'We are talking about our own future,' the youthful MP charged. 'We are talking about a sensitive issue that affects people's lives.  Aaron said MoE was in agreement that the examinations were mired in controversy, hence 'we should agree that the controversy needs to be investigated'.  The Okavango MP said training invigilators for two days (as allegedly happened) would compromise quality. Speaking as a former teacher, Aaron said trainee teachers were taught how to conduct examinations throughout their training. 

The Okavango MP said there was nothing wrong with setting up a commission of inquiry into the examinations because even parents were not happy with what happened.  He said one parent had told him that he was not concerned about the exam crisis because his children were students at an English medium school.

However, the MP was concerned because his children attended a Tswana medium school in his village. As the rigmarole continued, Specially Elected member Vincent Seretse said there was no need for a commission of inquiry because the means to achieve a result of an investigation did not always come through an inquiry.   Seretse said it was regrettable that the sensitive situation had been turned into a political football and that this did not help the teachers' cause.

The MP for Shoshong, Phillip Makgalemele, also stood up to say he did not agree with the idea of instituting a commission of inquiry. 'But I agree that there were problems, (which) calls for an investigation,' he said. 'I believe the ministry is capable of conducting the investigations.'

Makgalemele proposed that the results of such investigations be presented to Parliament for further discussion. He called for a dialogue between MoE and teachers' unions because 'I think the teachers' concern must be addressed'.