It is wrong and not allowed to publicly share a student’s results on social media or even notice boards, Fingile Makgalemele, Corporate Communications Manager at Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) said this week.
As the country awaits Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) results, BEC has warned that it strongly condemns public display of students’ results, saying the children's privacy is being invaded. Results are personal, she says, and should be treated as confidential information.
Makgalemele shared that people often abuse social media and that is why copies containing names and grades obtained are shared freely.
“Let it be known that BEC does not share those copies, it is people who have access to those copies for whatever reason that share them but BEC does not encourage that.”
She went on to explain that they also do not advise schools to display results on notice boards but for reasons beyond BEC’s control some schools publicly display the results.
“We send copies to schools and maybe because of issues of technology or other difficulties, some schools find it easier to display the results,” she said.
After realising what was happening, BEC discontinued issuing results in a book version, where the results would be compiled and sent to schools in CDs. To further minimise harm, BEC is now providing schools with results of their students only.
“We encourage other stakeholders to protect the reports that we give them so that they do not leak them. Currently there are a few that we give book versions to. No candidate results are shared by email so we believe such efforts will ensure that there are less cases of what has been happening in the past,” Makgalemele said.
PSLE results are expected to be released sometime next week, with BEC acknowledging that there have been some delays this year leading to the late release of the results. The Junior Certificate (JCE) results will be released on the last week of January, and Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) in the third week of February.
As the country awaits Primary School Leaving Examination (PSLE) results, BEC has warned that it strongly condemns public display of students’ results, saying the children's privacy is being invaded. Results are personal, she says, and should be treated as confidential information.
Makgalemele shared that people often abuse social media and that is why copies containing names and grades obtained are shared freely.
“Let it be known that BEC does not share those copies, it is people who have access to those copies for whatever reason that share them but BEC does not encourage that.”
She went on to explain that they also do not advise schools to display results on notice boards but for reasons beyond BEC’s control some schools publicly display the results.
“We send copies to schools and maybe because of issues of technology or other difficulties, some schools find it easier to display the results,” she said.
After realising what was happening, BEC discontinued issuing results in a book version, where the results would be compiled and sent to schools in CDs. To further minimise harm, BEC is now providing schools with results of their students only.
“We encourage other stakeholders to protect the reports that we give them so that they do not leak them. Currently there are a few that we give book versions to. No candidate results are shared by email so we believe such efforts will ensure that there are less cases of what has been happening in the past,” Makgalemele said.
PSLE results are expected to be released sometime next week, with BEC acknowledging that there have been some delays this year leading to the late release of the results. The Junior Certificate (JCE) results will be released on the last week of January, and Botswana General Certificate of Secondary Education (BGCSE) in the third week of February.
