By William Mbangula
OSHAKATI
If you ask the Director of Education in Oshana what her priority is in terms of learners’ performance, she will definitely tell you it is to make the learners literate (read and write) at foundation (lower) level.
This is one of the objectives that form part of her vision in her region. Her dream is for the region to be at the top in the country.
Oshana was ranked number 6 in the Grade 10 results in 2006, and number 7 for Grade 12. Although it would be an uphill battle to achieve top place, Dutte Shinyemba, the head of Education in Oshana Region, has already started working on it with vigour and determination. As part of her strategy, she has embarked on a project known as Holiday Reading Adventure (HRA).
Shinyemba explains: “This (HRA) is a regional initiative aimed at inculcating the culture of reading and the love for books among children, young and adult learners in Oshana Region. The HRA educates the parents to take responsibility in helping their young children to read on their own and to search for information in printed literature in schools and community libraries. The participation of parents and the local community support are very important to ensure their involvement in the education of their children.”
She notes that it is important for the learners to have a strong foundation on which to build. Already six of the 14 cluster centres in the region have started with the project to give the beneficiaries mental stability, unlock their imaginations, shape their minds to enquire, and allow them to take on and face the world without fear.
Shinyemba believes that reading is an essential skill in the learning process, especially at the foundation level. As a result, success in various careers and employment opportunities is largely reflected by the ability to transfer written knowledge into relevant and meaningful application in real life situations.
Supported financially by the GTZ from 2003 to 2006, the project now seeks material and financial support. Such a project was partly created on the basis of results of the Southern and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ 11 report of 2000). Based on the daily experience on the ground and the SACMEQ 11 revelations which state, among others, that learners in Namibia perform poorly in reading compared to other countries in the region, her office felt it was imperative to involve learners from all schools and parents in the region in the HRA exercise.
The exercise was initiated as the 2000 Millennium Project at the time Shinyemba was a deputy director before she took over the mantle in 2002.
She says such challenges can, however, become part of the learning process and be turned into opportunities for success. Being a director, she notes, is a mammoth task where one has to deal with human and financial resources, and each one of them presents its own challenges.
One may face constraints in terms of acquiring materials due to budgetary limits, but such shortcomings cannot discourage a visionary leader from finding alternative resources to move forward.
As director, she faces three core responsibilities of management, namely: managing people, activities and financial resources. When it comes to managing people, in this case 52 518 learners at 133 schools, 1 788 teachers and 537 non-teaching staff, they are divided into categories beginning at the regional headquarters, circuit inspectorate (four in total: Oluno, Oshakati, Eheke and Onamutai, a fifth is envisaged in the future), cluster centres (14 of them) and at school levels. Such categories are as follows: the unwilling and unable, the willing and unable, unwilling but able, and willing and able.
Shinyemba notes that her office faces a shortage of human and financial resources. These are insufficient budget allocation for material supplies, increased numbers of orphans and vulnerable children who cannot pay school development funds to supplement the small amount allocated to the sub-votes on material supplies.
At both primary and secondary phases, there is a delay from government in implementing the education development fund as per Act No.16 of 2001; prolonged illness of teachers hampers effective teaching and learning as no budget provision is made for relieving such teachers; lack of subject content; English proficiency and self confidence as well as insufficient budget allocation for renovations.
Many schools built before independence are dilapidated and pose a health hazard to learners. Unwilling and unable staff members have become a thorn on the side of education managers. Dealing with them in terms of the Public Service Act 13 of 1995 is cumbersome because procedures are too long.
Other obstacles include lack of transport which hampers the effective monitoring and support of teaching and learning at schools, lack of parental support and involvement in their children’s education, and school dropout rates due to pregnancy. About 130 girls dropped out of school last year due to pregnancies.
So far, Shinyemba confirmed, no teacher was fingered for impregnating learners last year. All the culprits, according to her records so far, are identified as outside people. Such outside people, as stated in the reports from concerned schools, are difficult to pinpoint. With such a bleak future, there is always concern about whether they will return to classes.
Again, with the prevalence of HIV/AIDS, there is concern about their health status. But as a precautionary measure, the schools in the region have introduced the Window of Hope Project, which helps the learners to know how to protect themselves against the pandemic.
All schools have established HIV/AIDS awareness clubs as part of the strategy.
The pandemic is also a concern to management in the sense that it causes a lot of absenteeism within teaching staff and further creates orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) who need assistance at all times.
Some NGOs have been of great help to the OVC, such as the Forum for African Women in Education Namibia (FAWENA) and the USA-funded Basic Education Support project (BES).
On the future educational development objectives, Shinyemba says: “The Directorate has developed values which underpin the approach we want to take towards the delivery of ETSIP, quality education and regional council strategic plan that will lead to the achievement of Vision 2030.
According to Shinyemba, such approach includes among others: transparency by acting with honesty and integrity; being accountable for the achievement of key priorities for the delivery of service; encouraging and giving recognition to others for service excellence; communicating with enthusiasm and energy in order to create a sense of purpose for the delivering of agreed outcomes and being passionate about excellence; taking responsibility for own and team’s performance; continuously learning and developing skills; working in collaboration with others; sharing knowledge and skills; encouraging a high standard of safety for learners, staff and the public; being flexible and innovative in finding new ways to improve service delivery and work within policy, procedures and budget constraints.
Shinyemba is one of the few women in the country who are taking education in their regions to greater heights. She took over in November 2002 after being a deputy director for about 10 years in the same region. Although she works under difficult circumstances, Oshana Region has registered progress in terms of learners’ performance at both Grades 10 and 12 during the past years. In 2004, 45,5% of Grade 10 learners were promoted to Grade 11; 45,5% in 2005 and 45,7% in 2006.
About those who qualified for Unam and Polytechnic admission after Grade 12, the results were 18,8% in 2004, 21,7% in 2005 and 22% in 2006.
Married to a Libyan-trained helicopter pilot, Efraim Shinyemba, she is the mother of three boys – Eric Shoopala, a third-year civil engineering student at the Polytechnic of Namibia; Larsh Ndalikokule who is in Grade 9, and Pweya Sten Rylander (named after a former Swedish Ambassador to Namibia) currently doing Grade 7.
Although she is currently heavily involved in educational management, teaching was not her passion.
The daughter of Gabriel Ashivudhi Hamutenya and Naemi Kavena Mwanyangapo, being a disciplined child, she took the advice of her mother to become a teacher instead of her own choice as a nurse.
Born at Onanghulo village in Ohangwena Region, she started her early schooling at Immanuel Rieters Primary School in Walvis Bay under one of her role models, Toini Mutumbulwa Mupupa.
According to Shinyemba, Mutumbulwa Mupupa embodied a shining example of a good teacher because she was always kind to learners and also patient with them. She was able to effectively motivate and encourage them to excel in class.
Asked to define a good teacher, she said: “I think a good teacher should be a hardworking person who is prepared to teach and accommodate learners from different backgrounds. He/she should be able to motivate and support them to learn. Such a teacher should be able to look into the learner’s individual needs whether socially, intellectually or emotionally. A teacher who can treat the learners as a responsible parent can serve as a role model for the children.”
In 1975 Shinyemba was one of the pioneer founders of the Andimba Toivo ya Toivo Secondary School (then known as Oluno Secondary School) at Ondangwa, where she completed Grade 10 and enrolled for a teaching certificate at Ongwediva College of Education for the next two years. After completing the teacher’s training, she only taught for six months at Eluwa School for Deaf and Visually Impaired before she left for exile.
Whilst in exile, she taught at various centres such as Lubango Education Centre from 1980 to 1981 while also serving as the secretary of the centre.
After two years, she was sent for further studies to Sierra Leone for a period of four years and returned to Angola to continue teaching.
While teaching in Angola, she got a bursary to study education management and administration at Morray House College of Education at Edinburgh. On completion of her one-year studies, she went to teach at Kwanza Sul, Angola, as a Curriculum Officer. While still at Kwanza Sul, Swapo in conjunction with the University of Umea in Sweden came up with the Integrated Teachers Training Programme (ITTP). She was selected for 1986 to 1992.
Appointed a deputy director in 1991, she did not stop studying until she obtained her Master’s Degree in Education Philosophy from Oxford Brookes University in 1999.
Asked about her work ethics as the overall head of education in Oshana, Shinyemba said she considers herself a hard worker who starts her daily activities an hour earlier in order to cover the time which may be taken by unexpected incidents.
She says: “Normally, when I come to the office I know what my duties are for the day. I have a book where I write all my daily tasks before I knock off.
Firstly, I try to prioritize the next day’s work while also being flexible to accommodate emergency situations. I don’t start a day without knowing what to do in my office.”
Shinyemba is also proud of her team. She says it is committed and hardworking.
Her brief message to the close-to 180 000 residents of Oshana is very simple: “Let us take care for the future of our children.”