The Director of Education in the Kavango East Region, Christine Shilima, has suspended classes at Ndama Junior Primary School until further notice.
This comes after nbc News yesterday reported on how learners have been relieving themselves openly in the schoolyard for the past three weeks.
Apart from the school not having water, the toilets are not functional because the septic tank is full.
The Director of Education, accompanied by her regional management team, visited the school on Wednesday morning to assess the situation on the ground.
The group was also accompanied by the Secretary General of the Namibia National Teachers Union, Loide Shaanika, and her team, including officials from the Ministry of Health.
Shaanika said the Ministry of Education has been aware of the situation at Ndama Junior Primary School for years now.
"This picture I saw today is the same picture I saw in 2020. Very disturbing. We summarised this report and had a meeting with the ministry because in 2020 we visited 315 schools, and that report sits with the office of the ED, and it's very disturbing to know that literally nothing has been done to the situation of this school. We are not happy to find it the way we left it in 2020."
Shaanika said NANTU will not allow teachers to work in such inhumane conditions and told them to remain home until the situation is addressed.
"Tomorrow there is no work. We give them until Monday. If they don't fix the situation by tomorrow, you don't need to come. Friday, you don't need to come. Monday, if the situation is not addressed, you don't need to come until it is addressed."
The Kavango East Education Director, Christine Shilima, however, said she was not aware of the unhygienic conditions at the school and promised to find a solution despite the bureaucracy.
"We're going to try our level best that the bureaucratic process for us to get a bidder to pump the septic tank is to be done within a very short period. I will definitely communicate via Mr. Kandere that this process has been completed and teachers have to come to the school."
The group also visited Kaisosi and Sarusungu combined schools, where they discovered that they too, are dealing with similar situations.
These are just some of the conditions at both schools but are not considered severe enough to suspend classes.
NANTU is now calling for lasting solutions to the septic tank problem often experienced by many schools in the region.
"We don't want to come back again here to see septic tanks. GRN should really make provision of resources to address this situation. I don't know what we have done wrong here in Kavango, but we don't accept it, and we don't deserve this."