The statement follows a decline at all levels of national examinations results - Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE), Junior Certificate of Education (JCE) and Botswana General Certificate of Education. On Friday, the Members of Parliament grilled Venson-Moitoi during Ministers' Question Time, prompting her to mount a defence whose pith was that she inherited the unholy mess. She asserted that education had been in decline in Botswana since 2005. If we sympathised with her, it would not be because of the veracity of what she says but that she is truly in a mess. However, it is the entire edifice - the monolith - of her ruling Botswana Democratic Party that is ultimately and collectively to blame. But to her credit, she has acknowledged that there are problems that need to be attended to exigently and promised results in the next three to five years. What is laudable about Moitoi-Venson's plan is the return of the old system of assessment at Standard 4 and repeat for laggards at Standard 7.
Her courageous approach should bear fruit at both JCE and BGCSE levels and an improved quality entry student at tertiary level. Infact, because the old system worked, her drive invokes the axiom, if it works, don't fix it. For many years, educators have differed on the automatic promotion to Standard 7 and through to junior secondary school, with a distinct majority taking a stance against the idea. As they said, it was like fastening the children to a dumping site or their end. We can only repeat our sincere adoration for Venson-Moitoi's bold step. Other plans include regular inspection of schools and making school heads accountable for results in their schools. The minister also intends acquiring houses for teachers, equipping laboratories with the necessary tools, providing schools with computers, monitoring delivery of textbooks, carrying out maintenance of classrooms and training more teachers. For years, teachers at both primary and secondary schools were forced to share houses regardless of whether or not they were compatible with one other, a symptom of little respect for pedagogy at official level.
