. . . as female learners lag behind in sciences
Pascalinah Kabi
ONE can be forgiven for thinking that European scholars, Ursula Kessels and Bettina Hannover used Lesotho as the case study for their research on educational trends which found that female learners are far less likely to take up studies in mathematics and natural science subjects.
Writing in the British Journal of Educational Psychology publication of 2008, the duo stated that “Girls are far less likely to take physics, computer science, natural science, or engineering classes than boys are”.
“Certain subjects are linked to each gender, and when learning together in the classroom, boys and girls are aware of the subjects they are “supposed” to be good at,” reads the journal.
This is something that Basotho know too well even without any study and as the two scholars suggest, it is a phenomenon that can be ascribed to a deeply ingrained psychology of self-deprecation that has made female learners feel they are not good enough to undertake studies in the natural sciences.
This self-deprecation is the product of gender stereotyping in society which prescribes what girls can and should be good at and unfortunately the learners of both sexes internalise and practice the stereotypes through their choice of subjects.
The scholars further argue that girls are more likely to think they are good at subjects like language arts and reading than boys are.
And even if Lesotho was not the case study for the research, the findings hold true especially in the light of the 2016 Lesotho General Certificate of Secondary Education (LGCSE) results that were released on Tuesday, indicating that male learners continued with their domination of natural sciences leaving the girls to rule the roost in the arts subjects.
Of the 14 137 candidates that sat for the mathematics examination, 0.3 percent of boys got an A* while not a single female learner got an A*.
1.3 percent of male learners got A grade compared to just 0.5 percent of female counterparts and 4.5 percent of male scored a B compared to just 2.2 percent for females.
14.4 percent and 15.1 percent of male learners scored C and D grades respectively while girls were rated at 10.1 and 12.0 percent in the same grades respectively.
It was only in grade E where girls (17.1 percent) almost matched their male counterparts (17.4 percent).
In Physical Science, 1.5 percent of male candidates scored an A* compared to 0.5 percent of girls.
It was only on the E grade where girls (22.3 percent) topped boys (21.4 percent).
While there was a slight percentage difference in Biology, boys still dominated in this subject.
And this trend has Education and Training Minister, Motlalentoa Letsosa worried.
While announcing the release of the results this week, Mr Letsosa bemoaned the negative impact of social beliefs and practices which heavily influenced subject performance by each gender.
“The issue of performance in each subject by gender continues to bother us because this is something that can only be dealt with at the family level,” Mr Letsosa said, adding, “Despite all efforts being made to encourage girls to consider careers in scientific fields, the social mentalities and arrangements continue to derail us”.
“Boys and girls are given equal opportunities in class, equal time, under similar conditions to do tasks in these subjects but boys always come out tops not because they are better than girls but because girls are made to believe they are only good in languages and home economics.
“The myth (about boys’ superiority in sciences) is deeply rooted in Basotho minds so much that even if you tell a girl that she can compete with boys and excel in these subjects, they wouldn’t listen to you,” Mr Letsosa said.
Performance by schools and districts
Meanwhile, Lesotho High School recorded the highest number of A*-A grades which constituted 16.5 percent of all its grades.
Leribe English Medium High School (13.2 percent) was second, followed by St Stephens Diocesan High School (11.3 percent), Methodist High School (10 percent) with Kings Gate High School (9.7 percent) in fifth place.
Mafeteng was the best performing district with 96.5 percent of A*-G grades, followed by Berea (95.8%) and Leribe (94.8%).
“There are 45 high schools without A*-A grades. When comparing performance by the number of A*-E grades, the worst performing school is Ramah English Medium High School,” Mr Letsosa said, adding “this shows that this school and all others that are not doing very well need to work harder to improve their results”.
Mr Letsosa revealed that for the second year running, Quthing was the worst performing district with 91.9 percent.
“Quthing’s performance has deteriorated from 2015 but it must be understood that this does not mean all schools in Quthing are bad schools.
“There are those that still perform well but they are pulled down by the poor performance from their counterparts in the district,” Mr Letsosa said.
Lesotho Association of Teachers (LAT) secretary general, Thaabe Kuleile said although they were yet to fully analyse the results, Quthing continued to underperform due to various factors “ranging from environment to teacher-pupil ratio”.
“The teacher-pupil ratio is one contributing factor as in most cases, you will find that teachers are forced to teach subjects they were not trained to teach due to shortages of teachers,” Mr Kuleile said, adding “Resources that other districts enjoy are lacking in Quthing and this is also negatively affecting performance”.
He said that the learning environment in the district was not conducive as initiation schools were rife and contributed to learners miss school for weeks to undergo cultural initiation rites into adulthood.
He also said the impulse between teachers and government over remuneration and working conditions which started last year had also negatively impacted on the overall performance.
“We raised these issues with the former minister, Mahali Phamotse but never got a positive response,” he said, adding, despite the challenges, the association was doing its best to motivate Quthing teachers by creating a platform where they interact with teachers from other districts.
For his part, Mr Letsosa said it was the responsibility of school management to take action including taking teachers to task over poor performance.
“We must remember that learners’ education requires a holistic approach which involves learners, parents, teachers, schools and school boards.
“When it comes to who should shoulder the blame and why, that is entirely the decision of the schools board,” he said, adding it was only school boards and parents who could influence decisions to sanction measures including firing individuals found wanting from such schools.
He said his ministry only came in to impart skills give advice to such schools “through inspections and school visits to encourage them to pull up their socks”.
He said his ministry had kick-started a new project specifically to assist underperforming schools countrywide.
