Chiete Custodio
Covid-19 brought us to a standstill once in our lifetime and now we had to align all we do to a new normality to be able to face it head on. Namibia as country versioned to become a knowledge-based economy in nigh future, but education was rudely disrupted for more than three months now due to the “invisible enemy”. Following the recent announcement by the government that schools will resume for face -to -face conducts, it stimulated a wide debate among the Namibian societies.
The following questions could be heard in the corridors of the Namibian house:
Why is the government not cancelling the academic year?
Are our children’s going to be safe at schools?
Is opening schools not going to increase the spreading of Covid-19?
Who is going to make sure that my child adheres to all the protective measures?
None of those questions are wrong because the virus is lethal, so does the government decision to open the schools amid Covid-19. Aren’t we supposed to be the land of the brave? Or we aren’t anymore? The fact that we do not know when Covid-19 is going back to Wuhan is a dilemma that we have to accept and face voluntary or involuntary.
Our children’s education is imperative and we cannot afford to create a gap year in their academic life which will be equivalent to denying them their constitutional rights. Therefore, we have to take some opportunity costs hoping the worse will not happen and the best will be attained. Furthermore, Namibia as part of the global village, cannot afford to be left behind as other countries are moving on despite some having Covid-19 cases almost the total population of our country. With a carefully, well opined advises by epidemiologists and WHO, we can able to finalised our academic year.
Cancelling the academic year should be the last resort after we exhaust all the available possibilities. All we need is to be proactive all of us in making sure that our “bundle of joys” does understand what is going on, but not to leave it to teachers only. Let’s not play a blaming game, but we need to work in a collectively way as a nation. Most teachers are ready including me to continue where we left off in early March.
To this end, let’s take our children’s back to schools delightedly, but not because someone said so.
Let’s not lose our brave hearts to a virus that came and will surely leave us here to pick up the pieces. Namibians are survivors and can endure any challenge collectively. As the founding and father of the Namibian nation will love to say “a united nation striving for a common goal will always emerge victorious”, surely we will.