Over 300 learners at Mutwarantja Primary School in the Kavango East Region have missed nearly three weeks of classes due to proper toilet facilities.

Parents said the problem has persisted for years, and they want urgent action so learners can return to school safely and consistently.
 
The councilor's office donated the first pit lantern, followed by two brick toilets built by a good Samaritan.

Before that, learners and teachers used the bushes when nature called.
 
Despite raising the issue with inspectors and directors since 2023, they claim nothing was done.

“We have decided, at Mutwarantja, to wait until they construct toilets for our children because these ones have worms; one can get the flu or even worse illnesses,” a parent, Angelica Mberekera, raised her concerns.
 
 Another parent, Johanna Marungu also expressed her frustration.
 
“Our children are at home as we speak, when teachers were supposed to start with their work and teach from January. Now our grandchildren are missing out on some lessons because they are home.”
 
“You want our children to stop schooling, or you want them to cross the flood plain, and when I lose my child, who am I going to blame? This school was constructed to accommodate our children, and they have to construct these toilets. If they were to focus on it when the school closed, by now they could have been done with construction, and our children would be in classes,” another parent, Kashian Shiymabi said.
 
Heavy rains at the end of December last year destroyed the toilets, and the director's suggestion to move the learners to Ngone Combine School was rejected by parents due to the distance.
 
Board Member of Mutwarantja PS Ester Nkomba explained the situation.
 
“Some of our children are six years old; they are not able to walk to Ngone because it's far. Imagine a child walking five kilometers to school and walking back; that is 10 kilometers in a day for a six-year-old, and it's not safe. We have people who smoke and drink alcohol in the bushes. What you see is a flood plain; even when I go to my crop field, the water level is on my knees. Unless they follow the road, and it's far. We had the director talking on the radio, saying Mutwarantja was not supposed to have a school. Mutwarantja school is treated like it's not government because we don't receive development from the government.”
 
The Director of Education in the Kavango East Region, Christine Shilima, shared that plans are underway to construct temporary toilets at the school.
 
The school caters for pre-primary to grade seven, with 14 teachers.