No supplementary exam for final year students - Rakhudu

MARANYANE NGWANAAMOTHO
Staff Writer | Friday March 2, 2012 00:00

 

Assistant Minister of Education and Skills Development, Keletso Rakhudu, said yesterday that supplementary examinations are not part of the university's processes.  'Final year students will not be allowed to sit for supplementary examinations because currently these are not part of the academic regulations of the University of Botswana,' Rakhudu said.  He, however, said that the government stands to lose huge sums of money if final year students do not to complete their studies.

'For example, for a student from a science based course who stays off campus and discontinues after semester one, the government would have incurred expenses amounting to P29,882. This money covers the student's tuition, books, living allowance, special equipment, protective clothing and stationery,' he noted.  'For a final year student, who discontinues in the last semester, the government would have incurred expenses amounting to P227,527.' Rakhudu told the House that experimental supplementary exam sessions were conducted last year and that the university encountered a lot of operational challenges.

'The UB Senate has therefore commissioned a study to look into the viability of re-introducing supplementary examinations,' he said, adding, 'It is not yet possible to determine how the government will or will not benefit from supplementary examinations until studies and processes to this end are concluded.'  The assistant minister said that the pass rate in the first semester of 2011/2012 at the university was comparatively lower than in the previous years.  He said that this was found to be the trend not only in the Faculty of Science but also across other areas of study.  Rakhudu was responding to Member of Parliament (MP) for Ngwaketse West, Mephato Reatile, who had asked why many UB students, particularly those from the Faculty of Science, failed and discontinued in the last semester. He wanted to know whether the minister of education would allow the students to sit for supplementary examinations. Reatile also wanted to know how much money the government would incur as a loss resulting from these dropouts, considering the large number of students who did not do well in their final examinations.