The recently released 2024 Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) examinations results have shown no significant improvement with only 6, 521 candidates meeting the 36 cut off points set by Department of Tertiary Education Financing (DTEF).
Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) board chairperson, Olefile Molwane, revealed that the 2024 results have plummeted when compared with those of the previous year. "Performance in 2024 has generally remained more or less the same across all grades compared to the year 2023 in private and government schools altogether," he said at a joint press conference by BEC and the Ministry of Child Welfare and Basic Education,. From the 36,917 candidates who sat for the BGCSE examinations in 2024, Molwane said only 31.35% of the candidates got grade C or better both from private and government schools. "The results indicate that amongst the grades awarded this year, 31.35% were graded grade C or better compared to 32.3% in 2023 which shows a decrease of 0.95%," he added.
In other grades, Molwane said the proportion of grade A or better also plummeted BEC this time around only recorded 2.84 percent compared to 3.7 percent registered in the 2023 BGCSE examinations. The decrease extends to grade E or better as in the just revealed results, only 74.7% was recorded while the 2023 BGCSE candidates registered 75%. This shows a decrease of 0.3%. In grade G or better, the 2024 candidates recorded 96.47% while the 2023 candidates had recorded 95.80%.
This shows a slight increase of 0.67%. Translating the percentages to the point system which is used by the tertiary education institutions and DTEF to grade students, the BEC chairperson stated that from the 36,917 who sat for the 2024 examinations, only 27.2% will be eligible for the DTEF sponsorship. "Using the point system that is used by DTEF, the number of candidates that scored 48 points with at least 6 A in 2024 was 152 making it 0.6% compared to 147 in 2023 which was 0.6%. "Candidates that scored 36 points and above are 6 521 making 27.2% in 2024 compared to 27.44% in 2023," he said. He highlighted that candidates who got 24 points and above are 17, 063 which is 71.3% for 2024 compared to the 69.9% in 2023 while candidates that got six points and above rests at 98.8% against 98.16% in 2023. In terms of outstanding performances, only 22 candidates from 10 centres got 6A* or better in the 2024 BGCSE results.
In other grades, Molwane said the proportion of grade A or better also plummeted BEC this time around only recorded 2.84 percent compared to 3.7 percent registered in the 2023 BGCSE examinations. The decrease extends to grade E or better as in the just revealed results, only 74.7% was recorded while the 2023 BGCSE candidates registered 75%. This shows a decrease of 0.3%. In grade G or better, the 2024 candidates recorded 96.47% while the 2023 candidates had recorded 95.80%.
This shows a slight increase of 0.67%. Translating the percentages to the point system which is used by the tertiary education institutions and DTEF to grade students, the BEC chairperson stated that from the 36,917 who sat for the 2024 examinations, only 27.2% will be eligible for the DTEF sponsorship. "Using the point system that is used by DTEF, the number of candidates that scored 48 points with at least 6 A in 2024 was 152 making it 0.6% compared to 147 in 2023 which was 0.6%. "Candidates that scored 36 points and above are 6 521 making 27.2% in 2024 compared to 27.44% in 2023," he said. He highlighted that candidates who got 24 points and above are 17, 063 which is 71.3% for 2024 compared to the 69.9% in 2023 while candidates that got six points and above rests at 98.8% against 98.16% in 2023. In terms of outstanding performances, only 22 candidates from 10 centres got 6A* or better in the 2024 BGCSE results.
