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The study concludes that mainstreaming drivers of boys’ underachievement and reducing barriers are essential. Practical implications emphasize creating child-friendly learning environments so both boys and girls learn effectively.",{"@graph":14,"@context":73},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/","Research & Report",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/gender-and-achievement-in-botswanas-basic-education-exploring-boys-underachievement/590744/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/gender-and-achievement-in-botswanas-basic-education-exploring-boys-underachievement/590744.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Stanford","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-03","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",5,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What is the central focus of the paper?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"The paper focuses on boys’ underachievement in Botswana junior secondary schools and the need to determine its root causes and remedies.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How do the findings relate to examinations?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"The study finds that boys underperform not only in final examinations but also in school internal examinations.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"What practical implication does the study suggest for schools?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"Schools should create child-friendly learning environments that help boys (and girls) learn effectively.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":75,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":77,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":79,"site_id":7},590744,1792492995,{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":83},"success",[84,88,92,96,100,105,110,114,119,122,126],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":85,"show_sort_weight":86,"slug":87},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":93,"show_sort_weight":94,"slug":95},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":55,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":97,"show_sort_weight":98,"slug":99},"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":101,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":102,"show_sort_weight":103,"slug":104},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":106,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},8,30,"research-report",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":117,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":120,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":121},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":123,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":124,"show_sort_weight":123,"slug":125},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":127,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":128,"show_sort_weight":55,"slug":129},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":82,"data":131},{"doc_id":79,"user_id":132,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":111,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":123,"language":139,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},2336477552062,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_994ba38a5ba835b3df7d355c54d3ed8d","African Educational Research Journal  \nVol. 5(2), pp. 99-108, April 2017 ISSN: 2354-2160  \nFull Length Research Paper  \nGender and achievement in Botswana’s basic education: Exploring boys’ underachievement  \nJudith Mungoo  \nWestwood International School, P.O Box 2446, Gaborone, Botswana.  \nAccepted 13 March, 2017  \n\n| ABSTRACT\u003Cbr>This paper highlights boys’ underachievement in Botswana junior secondary schools. The paper argues that there is need to establish the root cause of boys’ underachievement and institute possible remedies, while safeguarding the gains made in girls’ education. Drawing from findings at school level, the discussion demonstrates a structured gender based performance which mirrors what happens in the final examinations. Findings showed that just as in the final examination, boys underperform in school internal examinations. The study concluded that there is need to mainstream the issues leading to boys’ underachievement and mitigate them. Implication for practice is that schools should create child friendly environment where boys (and girls) can learn effectively.\u003Cbr>Keywords: Gender, underachievement, learning environment, motivation. |\n| --- |\n| *Corresponding [author. E-mail: jmungoo@yahoo.com](author. E-mail: jmungoo@yahoo.com). |\n\nINTRODUCTION  \nBotswana’s healthy economy since 1980’s has enabled the government to invest in education without any major external assistance. For instance, several planning documents such as National Development Plan (NDP) 10 2009-2016 demostrate governemnts commitment to ensure access and equality to education. As a result, Botswana has experienced tremendous educational expansion especially in Primary and Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) since government considers access to basic education a fundamental human right (Revised National Policy on Education ( RNPE), 1994) . The government has also provided reasonable educational facilities evenly across the country. However, providing schools with uniform resources may be the ‘first step’towards the realization of educational equality (MacBeathand Mortimore, 2001) . Although important, resources are not a guarantee for successful teaching and learning or equal treatment of learners to derive value from the education system .  \nBotswana’s education system is premised on the principle of equality of educational opportunity. The RNPE, and Inclusive Education Policy (MoESD, 2008) mandates quality education for diverse groups of learners including disadvantaged groups such as children with  \ndisabilities. Therefore, the public education system is expected to ensure equality in educational opportunity. While a good legislative framework forms the basis for practice, transforming it to tangible results can be difficult. Therefore, most of the envisaged benefits of equitable quality education have not been forthcoming as reports continue to show that some groups of learners underperform in national examinations (Tabulawa, 2008; Molefe et al. , 2010 ; Botswana Examinations Council (BEC) 2010-2015) . Analysis of the 2010 to 2015 Junior Certificate Examination (JCE) results show that groups of failing children include children in rural schools and boys which is the focus of this paper.  \nWhilst numerous studies have looked at the issue of‘failing boys’ not much has been done in Sub-Saharan Africa and Botswana in particular. Therefore, similar studies are crucial in Botswana to understand the failing boys’ phenomena from the Botswana context.  \nTraditionally, the dominant discourse has been the plight of girls in educational participation and achievement. The drive to uplift the girl-child has led to the promulgation of policies, often spearheaded by United Nation bodies such as UNICEF and UNSECO, to address girls’ educational needs. Consequently, many  \neducation systems have become sensitive and relevant to girls. Whilst Western countries have achieved gender parity in education, a new trend of boys’underachievement emerged in the 1990","cbCairdZFOkEQKzj","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCairdZFOkEQKzj","pdf",203633,"English","# Abstract\n# Introduction\n## Education expansion and policy intent\n## Equity, legislation, and remaining achievement gaps\n## Evidence from Junior Certificate Examination results\n## Research gap on “failing boys” in Sub-Saharan Africa\n## Historical gender discourse shift toward boys’ underachievement\n## Policy responses and debate dynamics","[{\"question\":\"What is the central focus of the paper?\",\"answer\":\"The paper focuses on boys’ underachievement in Botswana junior secondary schools and the need to determine its root causes and remedies.\"},{\"question\":\"How do the findings relate to examinations?\",\"answer\":\"The study finds that boys underperform not only in final examinations but also in school internal examinations.\"},{\"question\":\"What practical implication does the study suggest for schools?\",\"answer\":\"Schools should create child-friendly learning environments that help boys (and girls) learn effectively.\"}]","Gender and achievement in Botswana’s basic education: Exploring boys’ underachievement | PDF",1792070327,25]