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Public Examinations and EducationalAdvance in Botswana

M. Francis

A notable feature of Botswana's educationalsystem is the supreme importance attached to performancein public examinations. It appears to many observers thatthe whole educational enterprise is geared to these exa-minations and that they dominate the educational thinkingof parents, children, planners and the co.munity at large.Botswana is not however alone in giving such an emphasisand the growing stress on examination performance in manycountries throughout the world has been giving educat'rscause for serious thought. A recent book discussing thistrend was, for example, rather provocatively entitled

1'!he Diploma Disease'. To those for whom educationalopportunity is new or the rewards of education withintheir grasp for the first time these may sound harshwords. On the other hand, it is apparent from researchstudies in other countries that examinations frequentlyhave effects that were unintended and that are restric-tive and inhibiting and that it is therefore wise to keepthe situation carefully under review.

This paper is an attempt to draw togetherideas about the significance of the existing public exa-minations for the education system of Botswana. It. mainargument is that the present overriding emph.sia on

exa.ination success, though understandable in the shorttera, is detrimental in the long run to the achievementof Botsvana's developmental goals. Taking over atIndependence a grossly inadequate education structure itvas inevitable that the Government's first priority shouldbe to try to satisfy the demand for trained and qualified"'pover. Though this need remains, it is suggested thatthe time has come to replace the emphasis on examinationperforaance as currently understood vith objectives moreappropriate to the vhole school population and to thecountry's more general goals.

Although a number of different public exami-nations are taken by various groups of students inBotsvana the focus of this paper is on the three thatconcern the largest numbers and which so clearly determinechances of further education - the Primary School LeaversExamination (PSLE) taken at the end of Standard 7, theJunior Certificate (JC) taken at the end of Form 3 ofsecondary school, and the Cambridge Overseas SchoolCertificate (COSC) taken at the end of Form 5. These arepublic examinations in the sense that all students at agiven time sit the same examination papers vhich have beenset and are marked by some authority other than the schoolthe student attends. The PSLE is a national examinationvith some of the papers set by subject specialists andso•• ~y the Regional Testing Centre. The JC is a regionalexamination taken along with Lesotho and Swaziland and isse~ and administered by a regional council. The COSC isan international examination run by the Local ExaminationsSyndicate in Cambridge, England. It is noteworthy,therefore, that as the level of the examination increases,and vith it the possibility of entry to an even higherlevel of education, so the more external the examinationbecomes.

Inevitably, for many students each examina-tion is terminal. Those who do vell in PSLE go on tosecondary school; those who score highly in the JC exami-nation enter Fora 4 while some of those vho do not per-

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tor. so well enter some torm at proteseional trainingsuch as tor primary teaching; thoee who achieve a credit-able COSC quality for entry into the University or otherpoet COSC training like Nursing. Thoee who do not pertor8to these levels drop out. For inevitably an exaainatioDthat is used tor selection is also a device tor exclusion.

The pressure to do well in the public exa.i-nations is easily demonstrable tro. the tigures ot theproportions of students at one stage of education who aregiven the opportunity to proceed to the next stage. 1ft

In 1976 tor instance out of just over 14 000 children whotook the PSLE only around 2 800 were awarded places inGovernment or Government Aided secondary schools. Thistigure is only 2~ of the total nu.bers in Standard 7 atthe time and this proportion has operated tor at leastthe last six years. Yet under the present circumstancesentry to secondary school was the major, if not only,reason for taking the examination and tor many the salereason for going to primary school in the first place.These figures have to be set in the context of highprimary school attendance, estimated as far as statisticspermit to be approaching 8~ of the school age populatio~particularly at the younger levels. These proportionsare also in sharp contrast to those for Swaziland whichpromotes about 7~ of its primary school pupils to.econdary school, but at the same time is operating withonly about 6~ at the primary school age populationactually in school.

Further, despite the increased provision atsecondary level being planned by Government, the actualproportion at Standard 7 leavers able to enter secondaryschool will in fact decrease. There has been a rapidincrease in primary enrolments since 1973 and thia wavewill begin to reach Standard 7 in 1979. Yet underexisting Government policies the proportion of pupilsentering Form 1 vill decline to l~ in 1979/80 and toonly 14. in 1981/82. Thus from a higher primary schoolenrolment base than in many developing countries, there

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is very restricted opportunity for further educationwithin the public system and this opportunity will actu-ally decline.

The pattern is similar at the other two cut-off points. In 1975 out of 1 650 pupils from Governmentand Aided schools who took the JC examination only 880 or53. entered Form 4. Yet despite growth in the number ofForm 4 places, the actual proportion able to enter isdecreasing from year to year. The projections for entryin 1917 allowed ~, but because of the levelling off inavailable places fro. 1979 only 4~ of JC candidates willenter Form 4 that year, 47,5. in 1980 and 46% in 1981.2

At COSC level there was a downward trend inpass rates for a number of years that was reversed only in

1975. But even in 1975 only 54% of the 686 candidatesthat sat the examination obtained a full certificate andless than one in five obtained a pass in division 1 ordivision 2 that qualified the candidate for admission tothe University. !he results deteriorated again in 1976.Out of 872 students who sat the examination only 4~(429) obtained the full certificate and only 16% obtaineda pass in division 1 or division 2. In 1977 there was awelcome improvement in the general level of results with6~ obtaining the full certificate and 26% a pass indivision 1 or division 2.3 But the general pattern of atough selection process is the same. And, as with oppor-tunity to enter Form 1 and lorm 4, present plans are thatthe actual proportion of Form 5 leavers able to enterdegree courses in the University will drop from 2~ in1975 to 18. in 1979.

!he significance of doing well in the publicexaminations is in turn clearly demonstrable from a studyof e.ployment possibilities and related levels of salary-The key to employment in the public service is JC. Theonly cadres that will accept direct entrants withStandard 7 into permanent establishment are the police andthe Prisons Service, although Standard 7 completers canrise to peraanent and pensionable poats in the Industrial

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class. With JC howeTer a candidate can enter as aclerical assistant or on a traineeship and promotion 1spossible right through the service. The possession ofCOSC need not in itself give the entrant an advantagesince the good JC entrant vi11 be at the same level aftertvo years in the service, but there are some openings forCOSC holders only. Graduates may enter at more seniorlevels. It is theoretically possible for a clericalentrant to become a Chief Executive Officer in 14 years,secretarial entrants can progress on acquisition of appro-priate speeds in shorthand and typing, and technicalentrants, one of the largest groups, can move to the topof the technical scale, though lack of formal qualifica-tions frequently prohibits entry to courses necessary forpromotion.

Salaries are closely related to the level ofqualifications. The successful clerical entrant can mul-tiply his salary 10 ti.es and it has been estimated thata pupil vho completes three years at secondary school iavirtually guaranteed a salary 10 ti.es the national percapita income. The differentials in the teaching serviceillustrate the position vell. Prior to the 1978 salariesreviev, the average salary of primary school teachers,where the highest level of education is three years atsecondary school, vas P1 000 per year. The untrainedprimary teacher vith only Standard 7 education, and 3~of the teaching force is in this category, vaa much lessthan Pl 000. The average salary of a secondary schoolteacher vho will usually possess a post-COSC qualifica-tion or degree vas P2 700 per year. Amongst these theholder of the three year Teachers Certificate taken atthe University started at P2 424 vhi1e the holder of aUniversity degree which has taken one year longer thanthe Teachers Certificate started at P3 264 if the degreevas in Humanities subjects and P3 432 if in Science sub-jects. The average salary of a member of the Universitystaff vas P5 384 per year. As the National Commissionon Education co•• ented, 'the currently high income

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differentials for people with different 1eye1s of educa-tional qualifications are a major factor in fuelling thedeaand for education in Botswana.,4

ane of the results of restricted access tosecondary schooling and relatively high salaries for tho Bewho gain access has been the establishment of a largepriyate and continuation school sector. The 1976 Educa-tion Statistics indicated that there were 17 such schoolsregistered and approyed and that they accounted for 36~of all pre-JC secondary school enrolments. And despitethe diainishing chances of obtaining further education,the majority of primary school pupils retain the highestaspirationa. Research undertaken as part of the NationalEducation Commission's enquiries has indicated that over~ of Standard ? pupils expect more education and thatabo.t half of those expect education beyond the secondarylevel.

This process of selection through examination~ccess is not a phenomenon that is peculiar to Botswana.It is a feature of many countries and not just ThirdWorld countries and has increasingly been the subject ofco.. ent and analysis by various speCialists, particularlysociologists. Although their early analyses concerned.odern industria1ised countries the principles are aoreand aore being applied to other countries and can also berelated to Botswana. The general position is well statedby Banks. 'ane of the main features of a modern indust-rial society is the extent to which the educational systemis the aeans by which individuals are not merely trainedfor but allocated to their occupational roles. Thisallocative or selective function i. a direct consequenceot the demands made by an advanced industrial economy forhighly trained manpower.,5 Insofar &s Botswana has under-standably had to concentrate on producing sufficient localper.ODDe1 to fill the many positions in the modern state,the education system has fulfilled this allocatiye role.Since the new expertise could only be acquired throughformal education entry to the new occupations became

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dependent upon the acquisition of the necessary educa-tional qualifications. Thus education determined t4elevel at which an individual entered and moved in thelabour market. And since there are few alternativepatterns of mobility in Botswana access to the mostsenior and financially rewarding positions in the occupa-tional structure became more and more dependent upon thecertifying functions of schools and hence upon examina-tion success. The certificate thus becomes the majorfilter determining life chances and the more externalthe examination is the more the allocation appears objec-tive and just.

Further, the significance of the certifyingrole performed by educational institutions is frequentlyenhanced by the competitive nature of the examinations.Often the number of successful candidates is predetermined.This is true of Botswana in the sense that the number ofplaces available in Form 1 and Form 4 is and will increas-ingly be more or less fixed. Additionally, it appearsthat both the PSLE and the JC examination are gradedroughly in relation to the number of places available.The result is that the letter grade that is awarded doesnot necessarily indicate the same level of performancefrom one year to the next and thus the quality ofentrants bearing the same examination grade may also varyfrom year to year.

Another common feature of the stress on exa-minations is the special composition of the group thatis deemed to be successful. It has been argued thatexamination results reflect the existing social hierar-chies in that academic results 'constitute the symbolictranslation of the rank ordering of the cognitive andcultural styles of groups occupying differing positionsin the social 1adder.,6 The children of parents who havethemselves been educated are more likely to succeed inthe competitive scramble for places beyond primary schoolthan the children of parents who have not. There thusdevelops an elite who are able to provide their childrenwith considerable advantages over the rest which arelikely to be reflected in examination performance.

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Further analysis requires that these commentsbe integrated into some kind of classificatory framework.Some years ago an American sociologist, Ralph Turner,suggested such a framework for studying education as aselective process that seems applicable to the situationin Botswana.? Turner distinguished between two generalmodes of ascent, sponsored mobility and contest mobility,both of which are founded upon quite different ideologicalpositions and different elite structures. It should beremembered that these are ideal types and that they wereoriginally formulated from observed differences betweenthe systems of stratification and education of two simi-lar urban-industrialised societies, Britain and America.The models have also been criticised and modified byother sociologists. Nevertheless the contrast and cate-gorisation are suggestive and illuminating for Botswana.

The fundamental idea in the first of thesemodes of ascent, sponsored mobility, is a controlledselection process. Mobility is neither won nor seizedbut rather is a process of sponsored induction into theelite subsequent upon selection. By contrast, contestmObility implies a competition open to all on an equalfooting, with victory being gained by one's own efforts.In Turner's own words, 'The governing objective ofcontest mobility is to give elite status to those who earnit, while the goal of sponsored mobility is to make thebest use of the talents in society by sorting each personinto his proper niche.,8 The ideal credentials foraponsored mobility are special skills requiring thetrained discrimination of the elite for their recognition,for example intellectual, literary or artistic excellen-cea. This is in marked contra.t to a contest mObilityayat •• where society at large establishes and interpretsthe criteria for elite status and where the credentials~st be visible to all and require no special skill fortheir asse.sment. Turner suggests that material posse-aaion and mas. popularity are perfect credentials in thisrespect.

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TWo implications of sponsored mobility sys-tems have special significance. The first is that selec-tion viII almost certainly be undertaken early in orderto ensure control over both the selection process and thetraining. The other is the strict control over entry, sothat only that number will be selected vhich is necessaryto fill the number of anticipated vacancies. Sponsoredmobility is thus typical of societies vith a well en-trenched traditional aristocracy or of a society organisedalong large-scale bureaucratic lines, permitting central-ised control of movement up the hierarchy of success.Turner suggested that in many respects patterns of selec-tion in Britain folloved the principles of sponsoredmobility while those in America approximated more tocontest mobility.

It seems clear from the description of thesignificance of examination success that the educationalsystem in Botswana approximates closely to Turner'smodel of sponsored mobility. Opportunities for primaryeducation have increased greatly, particularly since thereduction in school fees in 1973 and considerably beyondGovernment forecasts. But entry to post-primary school-ing is strictly controlled by the central Government andis offered in rela~ion to manpower projections. Themajor selective criterion is examination success.

In relating post-primary educational oppor-tunities to manpower needs Botswana has taken a realisticapproach to the allocation of scarce resources and hasfollowed the example of other developing countries. Thegeneral statement about educational opportunity inSwaziland's Development Plan is almost identical toBotswana's. On the other hand manpower planning has alsoreiaforced the sponsored mobility system. Attention hasinevitably been concentrated on the formal qualificationsobtained through formal schooling, and as the NationalCommission on Education noted, this has tended to under-value experience on the job and skills not easily certi-fiable. The employment of large numbers of e~patriates

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haa further aeant that localisation has been understood.a finding local citizens with the same qualifications .obtained in the same way, and this in turn has resultedin high salary differentials in favour of those who haveobtained the formal qualifications. Manpower planninghas therefore been re~ponsible both for restricting edu-cational opportunity and for the high salaries of thesuccessful which have encouraged the aspirations forgreater educational opportunity. In the past manpowerforecasts have always required a limited expansion ofeducational opportunity and thus have appeared to beworking alongside social aspiration. But, as the Nati~Co.aission on Education noted, from the 19808 it isplanned that this growth should slow down proportionateJTand thus aanpower planning will increasingly becoae theopponent of the expansion demanded by social aspiration?

Baving described the significance of exami-nation success and put the selection process in context,it is time to examine the effects of the situation on theschools themselves. Educators have always been aware ofthe likely conaeqaences of a heavy emphasis on examina-tion auccesa and of the tension between a realisticappraiaal of their pupils' life-chances on the one handand a commitment to the less measurable benefits of edu-cation on the other. The distinction that is currentlyfrequently made between schooling and education symbo-lises the broader concerns of the educator. However, itis not nece.sa~ to adopt an intrinsic view of educationin order to perceive the far-reaching consequences of anexamination orientation, nor are these consequencespeculiar to one country. Dore, in 'The Diploma Disease'describes vividly the certification syndrome that isalmost universally applicable. Nevertheless it ianecessary to briefly describe the more significant con-sequences in order to demonstrate the effects of thestress on examinations on Botswana schools.

The major consequence is on the attitudes ofall those involved in the school syste., including

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pupils, parents, teachers and adainistratora.Success atschool is understood almost exclusively as success in theexaminations. Pupils who do not achieve the levelrequired to proceed are considered to have failed andtheir schooling is considered to have been a failure.~is view is in turn both reflected in and fostered bythe way the examination results are customarily represen-ted and reported. As a corollary the teacher's effici-ency is judged by the examination results of his pupils.

This situation has the most disquieting 'impli-cations and consequences. First, such a wide imbalancebetween expectations on the one hand and opportunitieson the other engenders resentment and hostility. Dis-illusionment sets in and the young person whose ambitionshave been dashed and the adult whose investment in andhopes for his children have come to a premature endingmay have little enthusiasm for other ventures in develop-ment. A system that labels three quarters of itsprimary school leavers 'failures' cannot expect much inreturn from them. It is a well-accepted principle thatpeople adopt the stance that is expected of them and inother countries the premature labelling of children hasbeen found to be an influential factor in the causes of

low achievement and uncooperative attitudes at school.There are of course those who refuse to .ccept the ver-dict of the examinations and who strive to enter conti-nuation and evening classes or take on correspondencecourses. But for many more schooling has been a mostdiscouraging and frustrating experience.

Secondly, to evaluate the success ofschooling solely by reference to examination performanceis to adopt an extremely limited view of the purpose of

schools in society. Schools existed before the certifi-cation race was begun and the young ~ave always beensubjected to deliberate instruction. Objectives likesocialisation, moral training and preparation for lifein the community remain valid. They were outlined inthe Report of the National Commission on Education and

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were accepted in the Government's White Paper. But evenwithin what may be termed the academic work the examina-tions test so little of what should be aimed at. Botswananeeds craftsmen, farmers and a citizenry that is able toappreciate something of the world and is able to contrib~constructively to the country's development. It is signi-ficant that the National Education Commission Reportstressed the need for curricular reform in order to getaway from the situation where what is learned is deter-mined by some view of what is deemed desirable for the fewwho will continue their education through the next stage.

Thirdly, the stress on examination success hasan inhibiting effect both on the curriculum itself andfrequently also on teaching methods. Inevitably the mostdesired methods are those most likely to bring the successrequired, certainly in the short term. It should not besurprising that in general it is the most qualified or themost experienced primary teachers who take the Standard 7classes to the neglect of the more junior children whoperhaps could benefit more, or that memorisation techni-ques are widesprea~ if that is what the examinationrequires, or that examination subjects receive the lion'sshare of the time. In the circumstances it is understand-able that schools teach for the examination. Theexperience of Kenya is typical. Somerset, for example,remarks that the Primary Leavers Examination in Kenya hascaused the exploratory, activity-oriented methods thathad been successfully introduced in the lower standardsto give way to a more traditional approach emphasisingmemorisation and practice on past question papers in theupper standards.lO The content of lessons is similarlydetermined and again from Kenya, King demonstrates howwhat is taught is decided more from an analysis of whathas been tested before than from the official sYllabus.ll

And all of this totally ignores the biggest question,whether what is being taught is relevant and useful forthe kind of lives the majority of the children will lead

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when they haTe left school. As Xing says, the exaaina-tion is increasingly being identified as the major reasonfor cramming, rote learning, stereotyped teaching and anirrelevant and limited curriculum.

Fourthly, a system where educational oppor-tunity beyond the primary level is offered almost exclu-sively in relation to manpower forecasts is one thatallocates to employment on a fairly strict basis of exa-mination achievement. Pupils are allocated to positionsin the hierarchy of jobs on the basis of academic quali-fications and with few second chances the result is afairly rigid stratification within society which bringsits own problems.

It is suggested that all four of theseeffects are detrimental to the achievement of Botswana'slong term goals. With such vast development probleas animanpower shortages the country cannot afford eitherirrelevant learning or the gearing of the education s1s-tem to the interests of a few. Rather than puttingpeople off learning primary schools need to lay thefoundation for more and more adult learning of the kindbeing pursued by the many agencies involved in non-formaleducation activities. While the purpose of schooling 1slimited in people's minds to social mobility throughcertification other educational objectives of .ore directrelevance to the majority and to Botswana's needs arelost. A curriculum that is characterised by rotelearning is unlikely to produce the flexibility of mindand action needed in a rapidly changing world, and a con-tent and attitude relevant to a selection device for moreacademic education will not also be relevant to the needsof a predominantly rural community. But as evidencecollected by the National Commission on Education demons-trates schools at present are not even achieving theirown limited academic objectives well.12 And the absenceof ladders and bridges offering second chances and alter-native routes to thoBe restricted by school examinationresults to a particular stratum of society thwarts ambi-

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tion, diverts energies and rests uneasily alongside thenational ideals of democracy and unity.

In seeking to remedy the situation it is im-portant not to conclude that everything has to be thrownaway. In the first place when resources are limitedselection procedures are inevitable. ~ith money in shortsupply there is stiff competition for funds and on thisground alone it seems necessary that schools should retainsome kind of selection role. Botswana is not in a posi-tion to adopt the drastic solutions of 80me countries.If however this inevitability is accepted there wouldaeem to be only two general approaches to change; oneconcerning the actual examinations and one concerningattitudes towards them.

Initially examinations, properly administeredand marked, were introduced to protect individuals fromthe abuse of power that any Establishment is likely toco.mit and to protect Governments and businesses fromcharge. of corruption and favouritism. In Britain forexample examinations were introduced for entry into theCivil Service to widen the availability of talent and toprovide a more just way of allocating responsibility.The.e are i.portant gains and must not be forgotten.So.e of the possible alternatives to competitive examina-tions, like allocation according to wealth or rank, areeven less desirable.

It is however important that any selectionprocess be seen as just and acceptable and that it iden-tifies the best people. Some of the dissatisfaction withthe existing public examinations in Botswana centresaround these two aspects. There are charges of unfair-ness in the setting or marking or preparation of candi-dates and of the unfair advantage some children have overothers. There are obvious difficulties when assessmentia controlled froa outside the country. It is true thatat the technical level the validity and reliability ofthe examinations could be improved, that the chances ofeuccess could be equalised more and that content could be

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altered. Somerset's paper in the National EducationCommission's Report looks at this aspect in some detailin relation to the PSLE.13 While examinations remain itis crucial that such matters receive attention.

However it is the other approach to changethat is both more difficult to achieve and more likely toresult in long term benefits. This is the approach thatidentifies the major problem as the examination orienta-tion of those connected with education and which aeeks tosubstitute a different approach to schools and schooling.A framework for such a change may be found in the Turneranalysis. Just as the situation appertaining in Botswanaat present approximates to the sponsored mobility modelwith all its ramifications so an alternative ia suggestedby at least a partial shift to the contest mobilitymodel. In such a system there is more flexibility and agreater variety of channels of upward mobility. Contestmobility tends to delay the final award as long as poss-ible to permit a fair race, in contrast to the earlyselection of sponsored mobility. The sporting connota-tions of contest mobility are deliberately suggeative.Turner argues that just as there is special admirationfor the slow starter who makes a dramatic finish socontest mobility incorporates fear of premature judgementand of anything that would give special advantage to thosewho are ahead at any point. Thus in place of theemphasis on certification comes an emphasis on guidanceand this in turn affects both the purposes of schoolsand attitudes to them.

It may be objected that Turner's concern incontest mobility is to provide greater equality of educa-tional opportunity in the scramble for the top places andthat this is only one aspect and debateably not even themost important aspect of the educational changes requiredin Botswana. There can be little doubt in view of thesituation described that greater equality of educationalopportunity in this limited sense is desirable. Howeverit is also suggested that the stress on flexibility,

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alternative routes, and individual guidance in the contestmobility model makes it appropriate also as a frameworkfor a wider understanding of equality of opportunity andfor the construction of an education system more suited tothe majority.

A first step in filling out such a model isto suggest a conceptual distinction between examinationand evaluation. ExaminatioD is too readily identifiedwith formal written test papers so that when people talkof examinations this tends to be both what is intendedand what is conveyed. Evaluation however has a widermeaning, referring to the many ways one can be measured atwhich formal test papers is only one. To evaluate is toappraise or to determine the value of. It thus involvesan estimation of worth. In this sense evaluation is anormal feature of everyday life and teaching is impossiblewithout it. Every time a question is asked, for instance,or a response made evaluation takes place.

This distinction has great significance at the.chool level. Public examinations need to be seen asjust one ingredient in an evaluation process that isnecessary to the activities of teaching and learning.Despite the tirm link in popular thought, notions ofpassing and failing are not necessary to the concept ofevaluation. When I measure my height or weight it isusually to find out something about myself for my owninterest. Rotions of passing or failing only enter if Ia. aiming at a particular height or weight in order toachieve something else and then my interest is not in theheight or weight as such but in the use to which I canput the information. There is therefore a distinctionbetween the purposes of evaluating and the purposes towhich the results of the evaluation are put. Publicexaminations are viewed in the pass/fail light becausethe Ministry of Education and employers set minimum levelstor ent~c. related to the grading obtained in the exami-nation reeults. This particular bit of the evaluationproce.s is deliberately used for prediction and selection

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purposes but it is a distortion of the same process ifall forms of evaluation in school are regarded as con-tributing to this one end and as having this singleobjective.

There is a direct link here with the emphasisin the contest mobility model on flexibility and indivi-dual guidance. Schools have a responsibility to alltheir pupils and not just to the few able ORes and thisrequires attention to the difficulties experienced byeach child and work programmes related to the ability ofeach. A contest mobility system makes this possible.It brings more concern for equality, more concern forkeeping options open, more concern for individual differ-ences in ability, motivation and attitude. A necessaryfeature in this is evaluation, first because the pupilneeds to know how he is getting on in order to progressfurther, second because the teacher requires informationon which to plan learning activities. This principleobtains even with public examinations. A good teachercan learn much from his pupils' examination performance,noting special areas of difficulty and changing hisfuture teaching in the light of it. The same is true atthe national level where for example the PSLE could pro-vide a countrywide assessment of pupil attainment, pin-pointing general learning difficulties and offeringguidelines for curriculum reform. But equally importan-tly, while certification systems focus outwardly to ex-ternal examinations guidance systems focus more oninternal assessment and its value within the school.Yet the use of examinations for diagnostic and feedbackpurposes has been almost totally neglected in Botswana.

A new orientation to school examinations istherefore possible. The pressure to 'pass' will nodoubt remain. But success and failure in the examina-tion must not become synonymous with the success andfailure of schooling. The purposes of evaluation arebroader than their use in selection and the purposes ofschooling are wider than those being officially tested

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in the examination. When for example a child scores lowon the English papers in the PSLE and does not attain anoverall grade sufficient to allow him to proceed tosecondary school, this does not mean his whole primaryschooling has been a failure. Unfortunately there is atension between selection and school objectives more ap-propriate to the majority but this is inevitable in theattempt to build a more relevant form of schooling. Uni-versal schooling is meaningless if the objectives of theschooling that is provided are directed primarily tosuccess in a particular form of academic examination thatonly a few can attain.

Once this is accepted many other changesbecome possible. When the stranglehold of the externalexamination is broken a strong case can be made for broa-dening the assessment procedures more in line with therange of purposes the school serves and with the parti-cular skill, piece of knowledge or attitude being asses-sed. At the primary level, as recommended by theNational Education Commission, record cards can take theweight off the fSLE and also provide an indication ofwork done and attainment levels for those who will get nomore formal schooling. The curriculum can be changed inline with Botswana's goals and needs, the role of theschool clearly seen as extending beyond academic success.New methods can be encouraged, new techniques explored,new course content and combinations of studies intro-duced. Pressure can be taken off 'finishing the syllabus'and more attention paid to those who have difficulty inmastering crucial concepts which at present results inthose pupils getting further and further behind. Think-ing and problem-solving can be stressed in place of memo-risation and repetition. A sense of failing can be re-placed by a sense of participating and contributingwithin each child's capacities, the scramble for certifi-cation itself being replaced by engagement in activitiesthat can bring the individual some feeling of personalfulfilment and satisfaction. Ladders for improvementcan be built beyond the traditional formal qualifications.

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However for such changes to materialise ashift is needed not only in attitudes to schooling but inthe whole outlook of society to opportunity and monetaryrewards. Crucial will be development in the business andcommercial sectors and a considerable investment in allaspects of rural development. Primary schooling will con-tinue to be seen as a matter of passing and failing ifthere are no other attractive alternatives to entry tosecondary school. New success stories must be possibledifferent from the bookish office-bound ones of thepresent. Life away from the urban centres must be seento bring its own advances and rewards. Without thiscurriculum reform aimed at countering the influence ofthe external examination is doomed to failure.

Yet in the attempt to broaden the schoolcurriculum and also retain opportunities for academicachievement that are still necessarJ there looms perhapsan even greater danger. This is the d~nger of a two-tiersJstem developing, particularly in view of the possibleintroduction of a new type of day junior-secondary school,with one kind of education for the few who will eventu-ally occupy the most senior and well-paid positions insociety, and a cheaper inferior kind for the rest who arealso the majority. Relevance might continue to applyonl~ to the second of these and the long term conse-quences of greater opportunity for schooling under theseconditions are disastrous for Botswana's development.

Such is the situation facing Botswana. It issignificant that the changes noted here as stemming froma partial shift to the contest mobility model and awayfrom the exclusive acceptance of the sponsored mobilitymodel are amongst the very recommendations made by theNational Education Commission and whic~as the Commissionrightly argued,are implied in Botswana's nationalprinciples. Hore attention needs to be paid to thevaluee and attitudes which will determine how successfullythey can be implemented.

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FOOTNOTES

lDore, R. P., The Diploma Disease. London, 19762Figures from National Develo ment Plan 1 6-81.

Gaborone 1977. Chapter especially Table .113Ministry of Education COSC Summaries4National Commission on Education: Education for Kagisano

Vol. I, Gaborone 1977. p. 15 para 1.205Banks, 0., The Sociology of Education. London 1971, p.336Clignet, R., Liberty and Equality in the Educational

Process. Nev York 1974. p. 3317Turner, R. H•• 'Modes of Social Ascent through Education'

in Halsey, Floud and Anderson, Education, Economyand Society. Nev York 1961. pp. 121-139

8Ibid• p. 123

9National Commission on Education. Op cit. paras 3.13 _3.1610Somerset, H. C. A., 'Who goes to Secondary School?

Relevance, Reliability and Equity in Secondary SchoolSelection' ~n Court D. and Ghai D., Education Societyand Development. Nairobi 1974. p. 172

llKing, K., The African Artisan. Nairobi 1978.l2Husen T., 'Pupils, Teachers and Schools in Botsvana ,

in Education for Kagisano Vol. II 1.1 - 1.89l3Somerset, H. C. A., 'Selection Examinations and

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