Teachers worried as primary school exams begin
Quarantined candidates should be aided accordingly - Minister
Over 47 000 candidates from both government and private schools, as well as Botswana Open University will this Wednesday sit for the Primary School Leaving Examination.
Minister of Basic Education, Fedelis Molao said in an interview with The Midweek Sun that like in the previous year, learners will write the 2021 examinations under strict Covid-19 protocols.
“I therefore call on school leadership, learners and Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) to ensure Covid-19 compliance at all times during examinations,” Molao pleaded.
He said that schools, both public and private, should make arrangements to ensure that quarantined or isolated learners who are not ill are facilitated to write examinations as guided by health authorities, whilst ensuring that both candidates and invigilators are safe from transmission of the virus.
He assured teachers in public schools who take part in invigilation and course work for final year examinations that they will, as usual, be remunerated for their services as the Ministry is financially supporting BEC to successfully run a smooth examination period so that the year’s hard work yields positive results.
Molao appealed to all stakeholders including parents to support learners during examinations. Parents are encouraged to ensure that their children have time to study and to rest. Meanwhile, a mother to one of the students who will be writing PSLE exams at Moamogwa Primary School in Mogoditshane, Keneilwe Seitheko said in addition to supplying study materials, her daughter’s teachers have been working hard to be ahead of time in terms of the syllabus. “My daughter has been revising with the hope that she will pass in the midst of Covid-19 challenges,” Seitheko said, adding that she has also been assisting her whenever she needed help. On the other hand, BOSETU Secretary General, Tobokani Rari said they note that Standard 7 pupils are sitting for this exam under difficult circumstances, owing to the great loss of time for learning because of the Covid-19 pandemic. “We are afraid that there has not been any strategic recovery plan by the Education Ministry to resuscitate the lost time by learners and this could have some dire negative consequences on their results.”
However, Minister Molao responded that it was the teachers who are charged with the responsibility to complete the syllabus and prepare the learners for examinations, “and they have been doing that across the schools.”