The Education, Arts, and Culture Ministry is looking at the possibility of returning to the three-semester system.

The Education Ministry had introduced two semesters in 2021 due to COVID-19 to ensure pupils safety.

Although the move was made in the best interest of learners, it also came with public complaints.

The Education Ministry's Executive Director, Sanet Steenkamp, says although there are high possibilities of returning to a trimester system, factors such as school starting time could be considered and changed to avoid learners walking to school in the dark.

This means schools across the country could start at different hours for flexibility.

‘’The schools will need to have the liberty to start, for example, between 07:00 and 8:00. Of course, we know schools like to start at 7:00 and finish early, so everything has genuine consequences, and it's something we all have to live with again. There are issues of traffic we need to be considering, including the availability of parents to be able to drop off the children and also drive to work. So it's a lot of things, not just an easy decision to be made. But the National Advisory Council will, after assessing all the inputs we get, make a recommendation to the minister for her approval. If we go with the three semesters, the nation will be more at ease.’’

Optimistic about 2024, Steenkamp noted that the ministry will be more cost-efficient; about 260 literacy centers have already been closed down across the regions due to fraud-related offenses.

‘’literacy promoters would claim that they were learners, for example, or record three times the number of students. So we really went with verification teams into the regions; our literacy rates are relatively good for Namibia, between 80 and 90%.'' Additionally, misappropriation of funds by schools will be dealt with accordingly, while teaching quality will also be examined."