Outapi
Upon his visit to Omusati Region this week, Education, Arts and Culture Minister Katrina Hanse-Himarwa was greeted by an astronomical figures of 9 000 learners in the region who are taught in shacks and huts due to lack of proper classrooms.
The region has a total of 96 607, the Omusati Regional Council revealed.
Hanse-Himarwa was paying her first courtesy visit to the Omusati Regional Council since her appointment as minister, when the revelation was made on Wednesday.
She was informed Omusati has 219 shed classrooms either in the form of huts or shacks and that over 8 760 learners are being taught in such classrooms.
According to the Omusati Chief Regional Officer Protasus Andowa the region needs N$66 million to replace the makeshift classrooms with proper teaching structures.
He said that besides needing to replace the sheds used as classrooms, an additional 30 teachers and 30 classrooms are needed in the region.
Thus, N$5.5 million is needed for additional teachers and N$9 million for additional classrooms.
“The region needs 12 000 chairs amounting to N$2. 4 million and 16 000 desks
costing N$4.8 million for learners,” stressed Andowa.
For teachers, he said, the region needs 5 000 chairs and 5 000 desks to the value of N$4 million and N$12.5 million, respectively.
Andowa further noted there are 25 multi-grade teaching schools in the region.
The chief regional officer urged the minister to devolve the function of the directorate of education to the regional council, saying it would “make us speak the same language, have the same understanding and all with same focus”.
He said Omusati has 276 schools of which 134 are primary schools, 113 combined schools, 16 junior secondary schools and 13 secondary schools.
While addressing the regional education leadership Hanse-Himarwa called for capital decentralisation, maintaining that it would assist with the implementation of programmes and policies.
The meeting formed part of the minister and deputy minister’s familiarization visit to various regions.
The minister said that unnecessary centralization causes avoidable delays and frustration; therefore she directed that all capital projects and school feeding programmes be decentralized to the various regions.
“The regions should be able to take full responsibility and accountability for the programmes that will be decentralized,” she said.
She said that during their tenure at the ministry they would be wary and critical of issues weakening ministerial activities and recognise “performance par excellence”.