The Deputy Minister of Education, Arts, and Culture, Faustina Caley, has highlighted the shortage of teaching and learning resources, along with insufficient support, as crucial factors requiring immediate intervention in the Kavango East Region.
Caley made these remarks during a consultative engagement meeting held in Rundu with the Education Sector Leadership and other relevant stakeholders.
The Ministry of Education, Arts, and Culture (MoEAC), in collaboration with the Africa Federation of Teaching Regulatory Authorities (AFTRA) and the Namibia National Teachers Union (NANTU), will conduct the 10th AFTRA teaching and learning conference in Windhoek from May 9 to 12.
The theme for this year’s event is ‘Transforming Education in Africa: Teachers, Teaching, and the Teaching Profession'.
Parents of learners who are attending an unregistered lower primary private school in Windhoek's Goreangab area want the Ministry of Education, Arts, and Culture to urgently register the school.
Parents, including community members, say they have done all they could to meet the government halfway by setting up the school.
This is the Okapale informal area in Goreangab, and over the years, the residents here have increased, as have the shacks, most of them illegally, and with that, the demand for municipal and government service delivery has escalated.
Deputy Minister of Education, Arts, and Culture, Faustina Caley handed over four hostel blocks, a matron's quarter, a kitchen, a dining hall, two ablution blocks, and two teacher houses to Omuhonga Combined School.
The facilities were constructed at a cost of more than N$79.5 million.
Omuhonga Combined School has grades zero to eleven, and the facility was dilapidated, with no accommodation for both teachers and learners.
Against this background, the school was selected as a beneficiary of the Africa Development Bank's financial assistance.
The Katutura Central Constituency in conjunction with the Khomas Regional Council have donated Wi-Fi service and computers to the Katutura community library through the Minor Capital Project.
The Wi-Fi was installed by Telecom Namibia at the cost of N$250 000.
The Wi-Fi service has been paid for the next thirty consecutive months in advance.
Under-achievement and under-participation of boys in education have become a national concern and stakeholders are actively exploring ways to support the boy child.
A two-day colloquium was initiated by the University of Namibia (UNAM), to look into the topic.
The colloquium aims to find solutions to improve general academic achievement among boys and establish the causes of academic differences between male and female learners.
The Namibian Revenue Agency (NamRA) has donated forfeited goods worth more than N$100,000 to the Ministry of Education, Arts, and Culture.
Backpacks, caps, and soccer balls were among the items donated.
NamRA's Chief of Strategic Communications, Yarukeekuro Ndorokaze, reiterated that the items were not confiscated but forfeited.
Teachers at a public school in Ovitoto, a settlement south of Okahandja, say its facilities are unsuitable for learning.
Buildings and ablution facilities at KJ Kapeua Combined School, the teaching staff says, have been in a deplorable state for years. They accuse the Ministry of Education, Arts, and Culture of turning a blind eye to the health risks learners here are exposed to.
Built 40 years ago as a primary school for children of the Ovitoto settlement, KJ Kapeua was upgraded to a combined school, welcoming learners from pre-primary level to grade 11.
The Ministry of Education, Arts, and Culture says it remains open to dialogue with teachers' unions and student organizations and takes note of the frustrations in order to find solutions.
The change of tone follows after the unions and student bodies expressed dismay at the blame game meted out against the teachers by Minister of Education Anna Nghipondoka over the failure rate.
The Executive Director of the Ministry of Education, Arts, and Culture has apologized to stakeholders who felt offended by recent utterances from the Ministry, saying any offense was unintentional.
Sanet Steenkamp appeared on nbc's Talk of The Nation to discuss the readiness of schools to begin.
