Making schools count

That the Ministry of Basic Education is committed to reforms is not in doubt. For the past 20 years it has a tale of toil and sweat aimed at getting things right. But alas, after all the hard work, the system is not anywhere near where it wants to go. In fact the system finds itself saddled with too any changes, which are proving rather overwhelming, cumbersome, contradictory and difficult to manage. The set of initiatives developed were rather changes of form rather than substance and to a large extent have remained mere paper exercises with little or no value addition to learning outcomes. Professor Jaap Kuiper listed the following changes, which though valid and necessary, have translated into improved academic achievement levels. These are:

The Revised National Policy on Education (1994): ‘producing a competent and productive workforce’;

The 10th National Development Plan, NDP10, (starting in 2009) advocating as Vision 2016 producing ‘an Educated and Informed Nation’;

The National Human Resource Development Strategy (NHRDS): raise the quality of education, address the skills-mismatch, improve TVET access, mentoring for entrepreneurship;

The BGCSE was localised, the curriculum and assessment were revised;

The setting up of the Botswana Examinations Council: semi-independent body to assess school education;

The setting up of the Botswana Qualifications Authority: all qualifications based on Standards and Level Descriptors;

The revision of the JCE curriculum and assessment;

JCE examination results now being published directly as standard-based results rather than published as normalised results;

Creation of 10 regional education offices plus a host of sub regions

The professor notes that perhaps the system was let down by the fact that in the formulation of development initiatives, too many different and independent players came into the picture and as they say too many cooks spoil the broth. “The dynamic of different initiatives coming about through the involvement of different - and often independently operating - groups of professionals has resulted in an Education System that looks as though it has been ‘tinkered with’ by all and sundry.”

Clearly there is no magic or silver bullet but the Kuiper study has shown that the best way to navigate the challenges besieging the system is avoid clouding the issue by keeping the game simple. This is to say the system must get the basics right. “First we need to calm down and get back to basics”, Kuiper advises.

Getting to the basics means ensuring provisioning of adequate - a good number of schools are experiencing a shortage of critical inputs such as text books, IT and laboratory equipment. The supply of adequate teaching resources is hampered not necessarily by lack of financial resources but mainly by long winded and protracted of procurement. The system should find a way of speeding procurement because education unlike other services cannot wait.

Incentivising the teaching force - frequent

teacher development is key. Even experienced teachers do get a little rusty and there is need to update their pedagogical skills from time to time. Training is an incentive in its own right. The Kuiper study has shown that teachers retire prematurely at a relatively young age due to frustration. “This is disturbing. Botswana’s education system is unable to keep its most experienced professionals because they are frustrated with the system’s inefficiencies and general lack of support to the profession.”

Providing pedagogic support – decentralisation and creation of regions and a host of sub regions unfortunately has not resulted in improvement of in-service training. To compound the situation the ministry has converted subject specialists into general administrators and therefore they no longer have sufficient time to provide pedagogical support to teachers. A simple reinstatement of subject specialists could do the system a world of good

Sadly, Kuiper noted that it appears that officers from the (Sub-) Region hardly ever visit schools. They mainly arrive after examination results are out.

Questions are asked about low performance. However, visits should have happened long before. Moreover, PEOs are few and seem unable to visit any schools regularly. Achieving improved learning outcomes is not however an insurmountable project. We can do it, if and only if we try the Kuiper way. The system must move beyond paper pushing and get into some action gear. Action also means ensuring that appropriate developments are made based on meritocracy.