UUKWIYUUSHONA – Minister of Education, David Namwandi, has called on retired teachers to come out of retirement and go back to teaching.
Addressing a gathering at Uukwiyuushona Combined School in Oshana Region, Namwandi called on retired teachers to return to formal teaching, citing a dire shortage of teachers in the education sector.
The Minister cited teacher shortage at government schools as partly due to the introduction of universal primary education, inclusion of pre-primary education from private sector to government school as well as the merging of former teachers’ colleges with the University of Namibia (UNAM).
He maintained that since government introduced free primary education at the beginning of the year, the number of junior learners has increased by more than 3.5 percent.
“Normally we have 600 000 learners registered in our schools, but this year we are expecting up to 700 000 learners. Therefore, when you have more learners, you need additional classrooms and additional teachers.”
According to Namwandi, government has also decided to re-introduce the teachers’ diploma that used to be offered at colleges of education before the colleges were merged with UNAM.
The Minister said the teachers’ diploma was abolished since the merger and it now takes longer to obtain a teacher’s qualification, which is now a four-year degree. This has thus delayed the process of producing teachers, he said.
The teacher’s diplomas will also be obtained from UNAM.
The Education Minister has also urged local business people to contribute by building classrooms in the community.
By Helvy Shaanika