Botswana exams might be marked in UK

MONKAGEDI GAOTLHOBOGWE
Staff Writer | Monday November 22, 2010 00:00

 

The teachers have boycotted invigilation over a pay dispute with the Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) and there is uncertainty whether they will mark examinations.

Last week, the minister announced that negotiations with teachers' unions over the marking of the exams would start. Shortly after reports that the negotiations have started, the minister announced in her facebook page that the number of teachers applying to mark exams have surppased the target. But the unions have since issued press releases warning their members not to participate in the marking until an agreement with the ministry is reached. The unions claim they have been tricked by the minister after a large number of teachers came forward to apply for the marking of the exams.

The minister has said BEC needs 1,583 examiners to mark Junior Certificate examination scripts and 1,595 markers for Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE). She told Parliament that most of the irregularities that characterised the 2010 examinations occurred in schools where examinations were supervised and invigilated by experienced school teachers. 'Such mistakes cannot be attributed to the process of engaging invigilators who are not practicing teachers.'

Venson-Moitoi said irregularities and incidents of examination malpractice are common in all large-scale assessments. She added that examination boards or councils all over the world face similiar challenges.

'Within our context, such unwelcome practices have always been detected and dealt with as a result of the vigilance of the BEC. We had cases of impersonation in 2008 and 2009 which were dealt with in accordance with the regulations; in 2009 there was also an incident where one of the centres leaked papers to the students. In another incident in 2009, an officer in one of the centres stole papers and sold them to candidates and appropriate measures were taken to deal with this matter.'

The minister defended President Ian Khama who in his State of the Nation Address announced that the examinations went well, much to the dismay of his detractors.

'This statement (by President Khama) must be taken in the context that the ministry did not hide any of the mistakes that occurred during this year's examinations. It must also be noted that any such mistakes were treated with urgency and corrected accordingly.

'I would like therefore to reassure the nation that despite all the hurdles encountered and by comparison with the general conduct of examinations of this magnitude, the examinations did go well,' the minister told Parliament.