Therefore, it is expected that when pupils or students misbehave, the teachers will approach the matter in a manner at once firmly, caring and dispassionate. This brings us to the issue of the child who was allegedly assaulted by an invigilator at a junior secondary school in Gaborone last week. In the unprecedented circumstances of BEC recruiting invigilators from outside the teaching profession, it is not known whether the invigilator of such unprecedented conduct was a trained educator or a sojourner put through a crash course in exam invigilation with little or no familiarity with the demands of pedagogy because nothing much has been said about the character. We suspect the latter is the case.
Which is a shame. But the disgraceful - even criminal - conduct of the invigilator in question calls attention beyond the incident because it crystallises the problems that besiege the Ministry of Education and Skills Development, and the denial of them by authorities. However, here the focus is on the regrettable incident. Crash courses can only give the most minimum basics and cannot prepare those who go through them for the more serious challenges of the job at hand; in this case, invigilation of children sitting examinations. It is a task that requires more than a fleeting flirtation with developmental psychology. Presumably having been trained in the sciences of how and why children - especially adolescents - are prone to varying degrees of deviant behaviour and attention-seeking tactics, invigilation of examinations is a task for which teachers are better suited. Armed with developmental psychopathology, a teacher is likely to avoid knee-jerk reactions and draw on the benefits of taking a deep breath when challenged. Whatever the circumstances, a teacher would know better than to assault a student who is about to write an examination. On the contrary, a teacher would and should - know that the creation of a conducive environment for bringing out the best in his/her charges is of the essence in the environment of examinations. We admit that the behaviour of some children can be unbearable. This tends to be the case in poor, high-density neighbourhoods where some of the students are no better than strays and waifs, really. Yet this is where good invigilators will distinguish themselves, and indeed where only the best should be deployed. However, in the prevailing circumstances where just anyone can be an invigilator, this is almost like reaching for a pie in the sky. As we write this, we are aware that though unlikely, the pugnacious invigilator could be a professional teacher. Should it turn out to be so, we pray that the unions and the authorities will take the necessary steps to banish such characters from examination rooms. If the character is a sojourner as we think, we appeal to the Ministry of Education to take the opportunity to address its ubiquitous problems. The world has warned us that we run the risk of being an utterly benighted nation by 2016. And believe this, there is no bliss in ignorance!
