Exam paper copies made as room is sealed off

CHANDAPIWA BAPUTAKI
Staff Writer | Friday October 29, 2010 00:00

A duplicating room at Matshekge Senior School is reported to have been sealed off as the acting school head was busy running copies of the Science Double Award Paper 3, written yesterday.

About 35 students are said to have started the exam an hour and a half later than others as copies were being made. A report by the teachers who want to remain anonymous for fear of victimisation revealed that the duplicating room had to be sealed off for an hour as the photocopies were being made.

A teacher revealed that at the same time about 49 physics students had to wait for approximately the same duration as copies were being made. 'Only 20 original copies were given to the students. The rest had to pin their hopes on the school machine until late at 9.15 to be given the copies,' the teacher revealed.

'The whole scenario left us to speculate on whether Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) sent less papers, whether the school miscalculated the number of candidates per paper or whether some students were seating for the wrong paper,' the teacher revealed. When reached for comment the BEC's public relations officer, Charles Keikotlhae said that there is nothing wrong with making copies as long as the way it was done fell within BEC regulations. 'We are investigating the matter to see what went wrong as our files show that extra papers were sent to the school,' he said.

On his part the Executive Secretary of the Botswana Secondary Teachers' Union (BOSETU) Justin Hunyepa said with the current set up there are no exam committees to monitor the whole exam process. He explained that such committees were mandated with checking if the papers sent were enough for all the students, if all the students were present and sitting for the correct exam paper. 'Without those committees blunders like this are bound to happen,' Hunyepa said.