BQA HAS POWERS TO PROTECT LEARNERS
Assistant Minister of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology, Mr Fidelis Molao has told Parliament that Botswana Qualifications Authority (BQA) had powers to protect learners from the Education and Training Providers (ETPs).
Mr Molao said with respect to the dispute between the learners and the DDT College of Medicine, the Authority received a complaint from learners on July 6, 2018 regarding unfair awarding of a Fail and Discontinue mark.
Responding to a question in Parliament, Mr Molao said the authority undertook an investigation from July 9 to September 29, 2018 to ascertain if the ETP had failed to comply with their policies as well as the condition of their registration, accreditation and approval of the learning programme.
He said the outcome of the investigation, which included evidence submitted by DDT College of Medicine, revealed inconsistencies with regard to disgruntled learners’ assessments.
Furthermore, he stated that it was on the basis of this that the authority instructed the college to reinstate the learners and ensure compliance with its learner assessment policy as was submitted during registration of the college.
The assistant minister said the college failed to comply with the authority’s instruction and this meant that the college was not complying with the conditions for its registration and accreditation, hence the ‘authority is currently engaging the college and pursuing all possible actions as provided for in its Regulations.’
He said the authority therefore endeavoured to review its systems, processes and resources to enhance efficiency.
Francistown East MP, Mr Buti Billy had asked the minister to state whether BQA had powers to ensure students’ protection from their institutions of learning and if so, what the minister had done so far in protecting DDT College of Medicine students who were unfairly awarded a Fail and Discontinue mark in 2018.
He also wanted to know if BQA was efficient in performing such duties.
