- Overall performance dropped from 84.76 in 2019 to 80.72 this year.
- 11 merits compared to 3 last year.
- 1 838 candidates compared to 334 in 2019 received X grade.
Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) has released the 2020 Junior Certificate Examination (JCE) Results. A total of 43 883 candidates sat for the examination showing an increase of about 7% in candidature compared to 41 048 candidates in 2019.
There were 21 683 (49%) male candidates and 22 200 (51%) female candidates sitting for the 2020 Junior Certificate Examination.
Overall performance for government schools indicates that 84.20% of candidates obtained Grades E or better (pass grades) compared to 85.50% in 2019 indicating a slight decline of 1.30%. The proportion of candidates obtaining Grades C or better (credit grades) is at 35.80% compared to 37.50% in 2019 representing a slight decline of 1.70%. This depicts a relatively similar cohort to that of 2019.
Outstanding performance has been noted where eleven (11) candidates obtained Merit compared to only three (3) in 2019, the highest number recorded since 2010. The eleven candidates are spread across different examination centres across the country.
Overall performance for all 2020 JCE candidates which includes government schools, private schools and private candidates indicates that 80.72% of candidates obtained Grades E or better (pass grades) compared to 84.76% in 2019 showing a significant decline of 4.04%. The performance also indicates that 33.16% of candidates obtained Grades C or better (credit grades) compared to 35.38% in 2019 implying a 2.22% decline.
The overall pass rate for the 2020 JCE cohort is 80.72%.
The female candidates outperformed their male counterparts.
Performance at individual grades is as follows:
Merit Eleven (11) candidates compared to three (3) in 2019
Grade A 485 candidates (1.11%) compared to the 484 candidates (1.18%) in 2019, showing a slight decrease of 0.07%.
Grade B 4 187 candidates (9.54%) compared to 4 205 (10.24%) in 2019, showing a slight increase of 0.70%.
Grade C 9 865 candidates (22.48%) compared to 9 833 (23.95%) in 2019, showing a decrease of 1.47%.
Grade D 14 924 candidates (34.01%) compared to 14 181 (34.55%) in 2019, showing a slight decrease of 0.54%.
Grade E 5 947 candidates (13.55%) compared to 6 088 (14.83%) in the previous year, showing a decrease of 1.28%.
Ungraded 6 626 candidates (15.10%) compared to 5 920 (14.42%) in 2019, showing an increase of 0.68%.
This year, 1 838 candidates compared to 334 in 2019, did not meet minimum requirement for the award of a qualification and therefore denoted with an X.
Source: Botswana Examinations Council
