BEC cracks down on BGCSE leak culprits
Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) has taken stern action against a centre accused of leaking the 2023 Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) Examination, imposing severe penalties on the centre and its personnel.
Candidates found in possession of the leaked questions were also punished.
At a press conference on Friday, the Minister of Education and Skills Development, Dr Douglas Letsholathebe, revealed that the alleged source of the 2023 BGCSE examination leak is a school in Selebi Phikwe. The Minister also stated that 17 candidates from this school are implicated in the leak. These suspects are expected to appear in court within the next few weeks to face charges. The Minister assured the public that BEC is taking strict measures to prevent any future leaks. BEC has taken the necessary measures in accordance with its regulations to address the incident involving the leak of the 2023 BGCSE questions. Administrative penalties have been applied to the relevant parties involved, with the aim of deterring any future incidents of this nature.
“The administrative penalties that have been applied are as follows: Withdrawal of recognition of the Centre in question as an Examination Centre for a period of five years; Sanctioning the Centre personnel from conducting BEC examinations activities for a period of five years; and nullifying the results of the 17 candidates who directly accessed the question papers and further barring them from registering for all BEC examinations for a period of two years,” Letsholathebe said.
Overall performance for government schools, private schools and individual private candidates indicates that among all the grades awarded this year, 95.80 percent of grades awarded this year were Grade G or better, which is slightly higher than last year’s results. Similarly, the percentage of students who achieved at least Grade E was 75 percent in this year’s results, compared to 74.41 percent in the previous year’s results. There has been an upward trend in students achieving credit grades (Grade C or above) over the last four years, with this year’s figure being 32.30 percent.