Teachers' exam boycott costly - Rakhudu

CHANDAPIWA BAPUTAKI
Staff Writer | Friday November 12, 2010 00:00

 

Responding to a question from Okavango Member of Parliament (MP) Bagalatia Arone, Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development Keletso Rakhudu, yesterday told the House that government could have spent P15,707,420 if teachers had been engaged at the rate of P30 per hour or P69,865,500 if engaged at the rate of P150 per hour at their respective schools.

Rakhudu explained that the total cost of this year's examinations was estimated at P20,419,944 for both primary and secondary school exams. Therefore BEC had to employ temporary invigilators and incurred additional costs, estimated at P1,998,202 on top of the P15,707,420, which would be paid at the rate of P30 per hour, bringing the total to P17,705,622.

Transport costs for invigilators deployed to school outside their localities were estimated at P22,536, while the subsistence and accommodation costs for all three examinations were estimated at P561,472. Rakhudu further revealed that the costs for use of hired vehicles from private companies for all three examinations are estimated at P1,299,218 and the cost of government vehicles used for invigilation is estimated at P101,666. The cost of using individual vehicles, which was calculated in mileage, is estimated at P13,310 for all three examinations.

'It is important to note that these figures are at this stage indicative since invigilation of the secondary level examinations is still on,' Rakhudu said. This follows the boycott by the teachers after their unions reached an impasse with BEC over a working Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and teachers demanding to invigilate at P150 per hour.

BEC has since engaged temporary invigilators.