Botswana’s official opposition says the 2025 PSLE results call for an assessment of resource inequality across factors that include urban and rural schools and public and private schools
SESUPO RANTSIMAKO
While congratulating students who performed well in the 2025 Primary School Leaving Examinations (PSLE), the Botswana Congress Party (BCP) says the figures point to stagnation in the quality of education and deepening inequality across the country and therefore require an honest and critical assessment.
In a statement released this week, the party’s Shadow Minister of Child Welfare, Basic and Higher Education, Caterpillar Hikuama, notes that although the overall pass rate remains high, improvements among top-performing learners remain minimal.
MARGINAL INCREASE IN GRADE A
The BCP says the marginal increase in Grade A results raises serious concerns about whether Botswana’s education system is adequately preparing learners to compete in a globalised world.
“A basic pass rate is not a substitute for excellence in education,” says Hikuama in the statement, cautioning that headline figures should not distract from underlying structural weaknesses within the system.
The BCP argues that education equity remains largely unfulfilled and remains a challenge that persists from the previous government. The BCP accuses successive governments of failure in leadership and sustained commitment to social justice and equal opportunity in education.
URBAN-RURAL DIVIDE
“We must confront an uncomfortable truth — where a child is born in Botswana still largely determines the quality of education they receive,” it says.
According to Hikuama, like those of the past four years, the 2025 results expose sharp performance gaps between urban and rural schools.
The party points to concentration of high achievement in private and English-medium schools that contrasts with continued underperformance of schools in remote and historically marginalised regions.
TARGETED INTERVENTIONS
The BCP warns that such outcomes contradict the principles of a fair and inclusive education system that should uplift all learners rather than benefit a privileged few.
The party calls on the government to move beyond celebratory narratives and to prioritise targeted interventions aimed at improving teaching quality, upgrading infrastructure, and ensuring equitable resource allocation in underperforming schools across the country.
RESULTS BREAKDOWN
From the recently released 2025 PSLE results, a total of 52,766 candidates took the examinations. Of these, 99.91% obtained a pass grade (Grade E or better). A total of 13 candidates were classified as ungraded (U), while 34 candidates were classified as X, mainly due to absenteeism.
According to the Botswana Examinations Council (BEC), schools in remote and hard-to-reach areas performed poorly. “Historically marginalised regions show consistently low Grade A and B results,” says BEC in a statement.
“Schools face teacher shortages, overcrowding, and poor facilities. Performance gaps are reflected not in failure rates but in the absence of top grades, reinforcing concerns about education inequality.”