BEC fails to pay invigilating teachers

CHANDAPIWA BAPUTAKI
Staff Writer | Friday March 26, 2010 00:00

Botswana Secondary Teachers Union (BOSETU) Executive Secretary Justin Hunyepa, said BEC has failed to give reasons why they could not pay the teachers. 'All they said was that it was not budgeted for and therefore they did not have money. We have heard that they wrote letters to schools assuring the teachers that they would be paid before the beginning of the next financial year but I have not seen that correspondence myself,' he said.

The High Court declared late last year that teachers cannot be compelled to invigilate or supervise external national examinations as it is the task of the BEC. Justice Mpaphi Phumaphi declared that invigilation and supervision of external examinations does not fall within the ambit of the duties of the teachers. Phumaphi explained that the applicants' bone of contention is that since the commencement of the Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) Act, members of BOSETU are not obligated as part of their duties to supervise and invigilate external examinations as that responsibility falls under the regime of the BEC in terms of that act.

However, after discussions between the Ministry of Education (MoE), BEC and BOSETU it was agreed that a fee of P28 per hour, for the teachers, with an additional hour added for coming thirty minutes before the examinations and leaving 30 minutes later, would be paid. School heads and their deputies, who are the chief invigilators would be given fixed amounts of P1,850 for primary schools, P3,700 for junior schools and about P5,500 for senior schools, while examinations committee members responsible for the logistics of running examinations will be paid P28 per hour for their services.

Efforts to reach the BEC senior officials were unsuccessful as they were said to be outside the country by the time of going to press.