Windhoek
Despite government efforts Omaheke Region remains in a quandary as the region has a shortage of over 200 teachers at primary and secondary school level.
Director of Education in the Omaheke Region Pecka Semba disclosed to New Era yesterday that more than 223 of the 720 teaching posts are still vacant due to a lack of qualified teachers to take up the vacancies.
“We’re left with no other options but to fill these posts with people with a Grade 12 [qualification] and this comprises the quality of education,” Semba said. Schools in the Omaheke have over the past three years been ranked academically among the worst-performing schools in the country. “Take note, since the shortage of teachers is a national problem, I do not want to blame the poor performance of the region on the lack of qualified teachers, but surely this also plays a part,” he added. Semba says at secondary school level there is a shortage of qualified teachers in Physical Science, Mathematics,Biology and Agriculture.
“We also have a shortage of qualified teachers in Khoekhoegowab, Afrikaans, Otjiherero and Setswana at primary and pre-primary level,” Semba told New Era.
The directorate of education embarked on an ambitious turnaround strategy earlier this year to improve the recent poor performance of learners in the region in the national examinations. The strategy involved visiting poorly performing schools to identify and address the core of the problem.
The visiting team included talented and experienced educators, who identified schools where the majority of teachers would be willing to be mentored and supported by more experienced educators.
Among some of the radical changes implemented in the region to improve the academic results include the introduction of identical question papers for mid-year examinations for all Grades 10 to 12, across the region, as well as frequent meetings between stakeholders to assess the progress made.
According to the Grade 12 examination results released earlier this year, full-time candidates performed better in 2014, especially at grades A, B, C and G, while their performance at grades A and D remains the same at 0 and -6 percent, respectively, as in 2013.
Compared to 2013, the number of full-time candidates decreased by 109 (0.6 percent) to 19 392. The candidates performed slightly worse at grades E and F, which was expected due to the improvement of quality symbols.
“I’ve been telling learners that I do not want poor symbols. Performance has shifted to quality symbols,” the then minister of education, Dr David Namwandi, said at the time.
Namibia currently faces a dire shortage of teachers across the country. A study conducted by the University of Namibia last year found that the country needs about 6 000 teachers to resolve the current shortage.
Illustrating the scale of the problem, the Ministry of Education released a vacancy list earlier this month, which indicates that there are 3 126 vacant teaching posts in the country.
In 2013 the education ministry announced plans to recruit 156 teachers from neighbouring countries, due to the acute shortage of English, Mathematics and Science teachers at secondary school level.