Students graded 0 for lost exam papers
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While the whole country is still in shock over the poor recently released JC results, new investigations by WeekendPost have revealed that a number of students from different schools were graded a 0 mark for exam papers that got lost between the school authorities and Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) officials.
This publication can confirm that all 33 Art students at Marakanelo CJSS in Ncojane Village in the Kgalagadi District got a ‘Fail and Discontinue’ grade in the Art subject; A student got As and Bs plus an X at Mmachibaba CJSS in Ratholo in the Tswapong District and was awarded an overall X for all the subjects; At Rutang CJSS in Tonota, some students were given a 0 marks for mistakes done by officials.
Secretary General for Secondary Sector, Thomas Kajuu confirmed the incidents of at least these three schools. He said they were aware of the irregularities and damned BEC for the poor work. “The question is when and how are they going to grade these poor kids? Will it pose fair marks? And will the public rely on it as authentic?” he questioned.
Kajuu averred that this year the country have registered more Xs than any other year. “And this is not because children did not write…it is mistakes by BEC system.BEC is not competent,” he charged. In an interview, the Minister of Basic Education Unity Dow stated that, “I can confirm that an investigation is ongoing by the BEC to determine how and why the scripts did not reach their destination for marking regarding Marakanelo CJSS case. The chain of custody of the scripts is being investigated.”
She also stated that appropriate action will be determined once the investigation is complete. “There are two possible options; re-writing or grading based on continuous assessment,” said the minister who stated that she might not be aware of many other issues because it is not every irregularity that is brought to the minister’s attention. She highlighted there are procedures in place and that a proper report is also made for records keeping.
According to reports from Marakanelo CJSS, parents of the concerned students were summoned to the school recently where they were told by the School Head, Armstrong Mothibi that their children’s papers got lost after they wrote the examinations. “He told us the papers got lost in Gaborone where children are graded. My daughter got Cs and X for Art,” said one parent who sounded a bit calm adding that, “Ga ke itse gore ke eng ne basa ba fe sengwenyana (I do not know why they did not at least give them an average mark instead of zero).”
When reached for comment, the School Head for Marakanelo, Mothibi lamented that, “We are waiting for the children’s marks from there. They are there at BEC. We have given them the papers, so we are waiting for the grades.” However, when asked to be clear on what could have happened that they were still waiting for the marks when the JC results have already been released, Mothibi lost his temper and snapped, “I know what I am saying, and I mean it. I have worked in the ministry before. Don’t tell me what to say, this issue is still under investigation between our school and BEC officials.”
The School Deputy Head, Lawrence Staphel who is at the centre of the issue as he was the last person to be in possession of the papers on behalf of the school pleaded with the reporter not to go ahead with the story saying the issue is still under investigation. “I can advise you my sister to shelf the article for now. Do not blow the issue out of proportion because it is still internal and has not yet reached the elders’ desks,” he lamented, adding that he was aware that some people were going around sharing internal issues with outsiders just to ruin other people’s reputations.
In an interview with BEC Corporate Communications Manager, Fingile Makgalemele she confirmed the irregularities and stating that as the assessment body they have investigated the issue and still on it with the relevant stakeholders. “BEC advised the school to contact and counsel the affected parties,” she noted. “When results are released they become provisional for six weeks to allow for all queries and enquiries to be attended to by the examining body. Examinations have different issues and we address them as they come, this issue is one of them.”
Makgalemele further advised that the JCE Results are still Provisional Results since they are still within the six week period that all enquiries are addressed and solved by the Council, therefore, BEC is still doing what it needs to do to solve any query that occurred during the 2017 JCE Examination period.
Pressed further to clarify on what exactly happened, Makgalemele noted that, “X denotes failure to meet grading requirements for the award of a qualification and these are addressed during the provisional six week period.” On the issue that BEC is not competent, Makgalemele’s response was that BEC is not in a position to address personal opinions.
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ENVIRONMENT ISSUES: Masisi asks Virginia for help
President Mokgweetsi Masisi says the issue of sustainable natural resources management has always been an important part of Botswana’s national development agenda.
Masisi was speaking this week on the occasion of a public lecture at Virginia Polytechnic, under theme, “Merging Conservation, Democracy and Sustainable Development in Botswana.”
Botswana, according to Masisi, holds the view that the environment is fragile and as such, must be managed and given the utmost protection to enable the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“It is necessary that we engage one another in the interchange of ideas, perspectives, visualizations of social futures, and considerations of possible strategies and courses of action for sustainable development,” said Masisi.
On the other hand, dialogue, in the form of rigorous democratic discourse among stakeholders presents another basis for reconfiguring how people act on their environments, with a view to conserving its resources that “we require to meet our socio-economic development needs on a sustainable basis,” Masisi told attendees at the public lecture.
He said government has a keen interest in understanding the epidemiology and ecology of diseases of both domestic and wild animals. “It is our national interest to forestall the dire consequences of animal diseases on our communities livelihoods.”
President Masisi hoped that both Botswana and Virginia could help each other in curbing contagious diseases of wildlife.
“We believe that Virginia Tech can reasonably share their experiences, research insights and advances in veterinary sciences and medicines, to help us build capacity for knowledge creation and improve efforts of managing and containing contagious diseases of wildlife. The ground is fertile for entering into such a mutually beneficial partnership.”
When explaining environmental issues further, Masisi said efforts of conservation and sustainable development might at times be hampered by the emergence and recurrence of diseases when pathogens mutate and take host of more than one species.
“Water pollution also kills aquatic life, such as fish, which is one of humanity’s much deserved sources of food. In this regard, One Health Approach imposes ecological responsibility upon all of us to care for the environment and the bio-diversity therein.”
He said the production and use of animal vaccines is an important space and tool for conservation, particularly to deal with trans-border animal diseases.
“In Botswana, our 43-year-old national premier pharmaceutical institution called Botswana Vaccine Institute has played its role well. Through its successful production of highly efficacious Foot and Mouth vaccines, the country is able to contain this disease as well as supply vaccines to other countries in the sub-region.:
He has however declared that there is need for more help, saying “We need more capacitation to deal with and contain other types of microbial that affect both animals and human health.”
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Masisi saddened by deaths of elephant attacks
President Mokgweetsi Masisi has expressed a strong worry over elephants killing people in Botswana. When speaking in Virginia this week, Masisi said it is unfortunate that Batswana have paid a price with their own blood through being attacked by elephants.
“Communities also suffer unimaginable economic losses yearly when their crops are eaten by the elephants. In spite of such incidents of human-elephant conflict, our people embrace living together with the animals. They fully understand wildlife conservation and its economic benefits in tourism.”
In 2018, Nthobogang Samokwase’s father was attacked by an elephant when travelling from the fields, where he stayed during the cropping season.
It was reported that the man couldn’t run because of his age. He was found trampled by the elephant and was pronounced dead upon arrival at the hospital.
In the same year, in Maun, a 57-year-old British woman was attacked by an elephant at Boro and died upon arrival at the hospital. The woman was with her Motswana partner, and were walking dogs in the evening.
Last month, a Durban woman named Carly Marshall survived an elephant attack while on holiday in the bush in Botswana. She was stabbed by one of the elephant’s tucks through the chest and was left with bruises. Marshall also suffered several fractured ribs from the ordeal.
President Masisi Botswana has the largest population of African elephants in the world, totaling more than 130 000. “This has been possible due to progressive conservation policies, partnerships with the communities, and investment in wildlife management programmes.”
In order to benefit further from wildlife, Masisi indicated that government has re-introduced controlled hunting in 2019 after a four-year pause. “The re-introduction of hunting was done in an open, transparent and democratic way, giving the communities an opportunity to air their views. The funds from the sale of hunting quota goes towards community development and elephant conservation.”
He stressed that for conservation to succeed, the local people must be involved and derive benefits from the natural resources within their localities.
“There must be open and transparent consultations which involve all sectors of the society. It is against this backdrop that as a country, we lead the continent on merging conservation, democracy and sustainable development.”
Masisi stated that Botswana is open to collaborative opportunities, “particularly with identifiable partners such as Virginia Tech, in other essential areas such as conservation, and the study of the interplay among the ecology of diseases of wild animals and plants, and their effects on human health and socio-economic development.”
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Gov’t commit to injecting more funds in fighting HIV
Minister for State President Kabo Morwaeng says government will continue to make resources available in terms of financial allocations and human capital to ensure that Botswana achieves the ideal of eradicating HIV and AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.
Morwaeng was speaking this morning in Gaborone at the High-Level Advocacy event to accelerate HIV Prevention in Botswana. He said the National AIDS and Health Promotion Agency (NAPHA), in partnership with UNAIDS, UN agencies, the Global Fund and PEPFAR, have started a process of developing transition readiness plan for sustainability of HIV prevention and treatment programmes.
“It is important for us, as a country that has had a fair share of donor support in the response to an epidemic such as HIV and AIDS, to look beyond the period when the level of assistance would have reduced, or ceased, thus calling for domestic financing for all areas which were on donor support.”
Morwaeng said this is important as the such a plan will guarantee that all the gains accrued from the response with donor support will be sustained until the end when “we reach the elimination of HIV and AIDS as a public health threat by 20230,” he said.
“I commit to continue support efforts towards strengthened HIV prevention, accentuating HIV primary prevention and treatment as prevention towards Zero New Infections, Zero Stigma, Discrimination and Zero AIDS related death, to end AIDS in Botswana.”
He reiterated that government commits to tackle legislative, policy and programming challenges that act as barriers to the achievement of the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat.
In the financial year 2022/2023, a total of 119 Civil Society Organizations, including Faith Based Organizations, were contracted with an amount of P100 million to implement HIV and NCDs prevention activities throughout the country, and the money was drawn from the Consolidated Fund.
Through an upcoming HIV Prevention Symposium, technical stakeholders will use outcomes to develop the Botswana HIV Prevention Acceleration Road Map for 2023-2025.
Morwaeng stated that government will support and ensure that Botswana plays its part achieving the road map. He said there is need to put hands on the deck to ensure that Botswana sustains progress made so far in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
“There are tremendous achievements thus far to, reach and surpass the UNAIDS fast track targets of 95%- 95%- 95% by the year 2025. As reflected by the BAIS preliminary results of 2021, we now stand at 95- 98- 98 against the set targets.”
“These achievements challenge us to now shift our gears and strive to know who are the remaining 5% for those aware of their HIV status, 2% of enrolment on treatment by those aware of their status and 2% of viral suppression by those on treatment.”
Explaining this further, Morwaeng said shift in gears should extend to coming up with robust strategies of determining where these remaining people are as well as how they will be reached with the necessary services.
“These are just some of the many variables that are required to ensure that as a country, we are well positioned to reaching the last mile of our country’s response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic.”