When the teachers first started threatening to boycott the examinations, most people thought BEC would realise what stood to be lost. But NO. Who are the teachers anyway? Examinations time came and the teachers folded their arms and BEC were left in confusion, forcing them to find a plan B quickly. Temporary invigilators were roped in and all hell broke loose at the examination centres with students copying, being chased out of the exam rooms, invigilators stealing the papers for their wives and exam scripts being forgotten in headmasters' office instead of being sent to the BEC head office. This has left the credibility of the 2010 Junior Certificate and the Botswana Government Certificate of Secondary Education in a shambles, which could have been solved if parties involved had the grace to swallow their pride and sit with the unions to resolve the matter. We give an ungraded mark for BEC and MoE.
After the Cabinet reshuffle this year, many thought that the announcement that the Serowe South MP Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi would lead the Ministry of Education was a blessing to the mnistry, which had for a long time been dogged by unending controversies. Instead of getting her house in order, she started by showing who was the boss. About 23 officers at the Department of Tertiary Education and Funding were interdicted and later redeployed without being told their charge. Deputy Permanent Secretary for regional offices Opelo Makhandlela was shown the door, and DPS for Tertiary Placement Golekanye Setume redeployed to NACA. Students going for their first year were shocked to learn that they would not be sponsored, a decision that was later reversed. During the invigilation crisis, instead of going as a neutral party to mediate between BEC and teacher unions, Venson-Moitoi sided with BEC, causing further strains. Instead of addressing the meeting with the teachers to resolve the issue, she runs her office from a social network - Facebook.
