WINDHOEK – Close to 50 qualified teachers who are unemployed, including a former diplomat, yesterday gathered in the Government Auditorium to provide their contact details to the Ministry of Education for possible employment. The jobless teachers include former Brave Warriors coach Rusten Mogane.
Last Friday the Minister of Education, Dr David Namwandi, invited all qualified, but unemployed teachers to a special meeting at Government Office Park. Yesterday, Namwandi had a brief session with the unemployed but qualified teachers where they told him why they are unemployed, among others. Some complained about the harsh working conditions they endured at their duty stations, especially in the rural areas while they were still teaching. One teacher, who worked at Mbalasinte Combined School in the flood-prone Kabbe Constituency in the Zambezi Region, bemoaned the fact that she was forced to resign some years back because of the harsh working conditions. “During the floods, we had to go and come from school using canoes. It was risky because crocodiles and hippos could ram the canoes. I am happy that I am alive. I had enough of that place. If I had remained there, I would have been consigned to a psychiatric ward by now. We couldn’t sleep because of the elephants,” she added. She said another issue is that her husband is employed in Orandjemund and she has since relocated to the town following her resignation. She pleaded with the minister so that she can be placed in the //Karas Region, near her family.
Other teachers who narrated their stories were qualified foreign teachers from neighbouring Zambia and Zimbabwe. They claim that they have become Namibian citizens since they married Namibians, but cannot get any jobs even if they apply.
Mogane, who is also a former chief administrator of the Namibia Sports Commission said he is a qualified teacher who used to teach at Immanuel Shifidi Secondary School some years back. “I am one of the teachers who have experience and I can plough back,” he said. However, the challenge still remains because only about 15 of the teachers are willing to be placed anywhere in the country. The majority are still selective with many saying they want to work in towns and close to their families.
Namibian students who studied in Zimbabwe, who roam the streets and regularly complain to the media about being unable to find employment did not bother to pitch up for the meeting except for one.
Namwandi however reiterated his call that he does not want qualified teachers to be unemployed in Namibia while schools need such cadres. “Those who are truly qualified, you must consider yourselves employed provided you are committed to go and work anywhere in the country. Teachers are like soldiers, you don’t say you want to go and work in your village. It is a calling and please let us not make the innocent children suffer because of our misunderstandings. If we do, history will judge us. When you are offered a job, do it with dedication and stamina,” he appealed.
“We are ready to accept you in the Ministry of Education, including politicians who want to impart knowledge. We want you to come next year to join our ‘Team Education’,” the education minister said. Alfred Ilukena, the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Education warned those teachers who are always given offers, but later turn them down, saying they are “in the wrong place”.
“Whether we like it or not, this is what God has given us. The lions, the hippos is what God gave us. There are people who sacrificed their lives to pave the way for us. It is nice to have a house in Windhoek, but there are other environments that also require us and we need to be able to reach them. If we fail to reach them, then we are not addressing Namibia as a whole, but a section of it.”
Ilukena also explained that they took down all the teachers’ contact details and subject areas and a database will be created where such information will be kept. “So come January, we will see where we have vacancies and then we can contact the regional education directors to say we have a qualified teacher,” he told the teachers.
Albertina Nakale