Over 1 600 BGCSE students request remarking from BEC

The Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) allows for candidates to request for remarking of their scripts shortly after the release of final Junior Certificate Examination and BGCSE results if they suspect that they were not fairly graded.This year, 1 669 BGCSE class of 2023 students submitted their requests at component level for remarking. According to BEC Head Corporate Communication, Fingile Makgalemele, there were 1 299 for the 2022 BGCSE cohort.There were 57 requests for review of marking at the JCE level for the 2023 series and there were no requests for review of marking for PSLE 2022 and 2023 examinations.Makgalemele explained that BEC procedure allows for review of marking for purposes of the global assessment best practice to make sure that no candidate/student is disadvantaged or denied the right to verify their grades.“We experience these requests from the upper classes JCE and BGCSE because at these levels results determine selection into the higher classes at senior secondary schools and higher education or tertiary and vocational education and work opportunities,” she told The Midweek Sun.The PSLE level on the other hand does not attract review of marking because it is diagnostic, just checking the aptitude and how much the students have learned during their primary school education. All students at PSLE areguaranteed to proceed to junior secondary schools.At BGCSE category, the request for review of marking covered 25 syllabuses/subjects in 2022 and there were 28 syllabuses/subjects for the 2023 cohort. The most common syllabus/subject that attracts request for review of marking is English at BGCSE level. There is no one syllabus/subject that is outstanding at JCE level.Makgalemele explained that the reasons for the candidates to request for review of marking is because in most cases they feel that the grades that they have been issued do not represent the effort they put in during the examination period and BEC has this process of review of marking for purposes of quality assurance.While many students who submit requests for remarking are hopeful that their results might change for the better, the results for the review of marking indicate that results remain the same in most cases and rarely change to higher grades.“When we say there is a grade change, it means changing from lower to higher. If a candidate’s review of marking grade changes to a lower grade, best practice dictates that the original grade should be maintained,” Makgalemele explained, adding that this process gives those who apply for review of marking a fair deal since it is a quality assurance exercise to make sure that the grades issued are accurate.Further, that the Review of Marking process serves the purpose of giving all parties solace because of its nature of quality assurance and transparency. “This is so because when the results are released, BEC announces that the results are provisional for six weeks to allow for results enquiries and for all parties to validate the results.”BEC undertakes review of marking at a cost to the candidate. Makgalemele said that it is done at component/examination paper level, for instance, English Language has two components paper I and II, this means if a candidate wants to review only one component or paper it costs P250 for each paper to be reviewed.However, if the review of marking results in grade changes to a higher grade, the candidate gets a refund of the full amount paid for the reviewed components/papers. If the grade emerges the same or lower, there is no refund.“It should be noted that just an insignificant amount gets to be refunded to candidates as we experience exceptionally low change in results after review of marking.”Makgalemele added that the officers tasked with the review of marking are the highest level of marking supervisors called Principal Examiners. The examiners engaged for the review of marking are paid at the rate of the year’s original marking rate, which is per script.At the BGCSE level, the average request for review of marking per candidate is two components or subjects.According to BEC, the process for review of marking is as follows; Centre/Private Candidate submit a query to BEC; the script to be reviewed is pulled from storage; Principal Examiner marks the script; Marks are captured into the Botswana National Examinations Processing Systems; Grading is done and lastly outcome letter is sent to the Centre or Private Candidate.

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Over 1 600 BGCSE students request remarking from BEC