MoE faces wrath of parents on invigilation

CHANDAPIWA BAPUTAKI
Staff Writer | Friday September 17, 2010 00:00

 

A delegation of five parents was chosen to deliver a letter of request to the Minister of Education, Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi to resolve their differences with the teachers in a Parents Teachers Association (PTA) meeting where teachers were requested to excuse themselves to allow the parents to talk in private.

The parents agreed in unison that the students should not suffer for the disagreements between the teachers and the ministry. 'They should not use people who are not knowledgeable and who have been out of work for some  time because this might, in the end, bring issues of credibility of the results,' one parent said.  They agreed that the ministry should engage the teachers unions to resolve the matter instead of contemplating postponing the examination. 'How are students who are getting ready to write the examinations supposed to react when the exams are postponed because there is no one to invigilate while the teachers are in schools?' one parent quizzed.

'We also want the school programme to go back to how it was to allow for afternoon and weekend studies. Teachers should be given an overtime allowance and the students must not be made to suffer in the fight that does not concern them,' another parent said.

The PTA meeting was called by the school leadership to brief them on the teachers' position on the invigilation of external examination and the change of the school programme to eight hours. After the school head Molosiwa Ntseane had briefed the parents and informed them that the new programme would affect the afternoon and weekend revision lessons, the parents requested the teachers to excuse them.

However, in an earlier interview president of the Botswana Secondary Teachers Union (BOSETU) Shandukani Hlabano lambasted Venson-Moitoi for contradicting herself on national television on the invigilation matter. 'She explained that it is not the teachers' duty to invigilate and then said unions cannot encourage teachers not to invigilate. Now how can the unions fight for the teachers' rights if they are supposed to be docile. What we are telling the teachers is that the time is now to stop being exploited,' Hlabano said.

He explained that the statement made on television shows that there was no willingness on the government side, as they appear not to know how to deal with issues of industrial relations. 'The best way is for them to come to us because it will be costly for them to employ outside the teaching fraternity as they still have to look into issues of accommodation and rent as those that they have in mind are not in the same localities as the different schools. The sooner they talk to us the better going forward,' Hlabano said.

Explaining the situation on national television on Wednesday evening, Venson-Moitoi said that the ministry and the Botswana Examinations Council would look into engaging retired teachers and unemployed graduate teachers to invigilate the examinations. She said if push comes to shove they would postpone the exams to a later date while they are still working on the logistics. She however assured the parents that the situation was under control.

Meanwhile the first exam that was written on Monday was marred by chaos with cleaners invigilating in some schools, starting at different hours with some as late as 12.00pm and education officers being deployed from their offices to invigilate.