Sibbinda Primary School in Sibbinda Constituency of Zambezi region in Namibia will be celebrating its establishment as a school on 

16 August 2024. The school has managed to survive all odds during the 75 years after its establishment. 

The main one was its struggle against feeder schools which were opened during the sixties and seventies, such as Kasheshe, Kaenda, Sachinga, Masida, Makanga and Kaliyangile. There are many factors which influenced the opening of Sibbinda Roman Catholic Primary School in 1949, some of which are:

David Livingstone and the London Missionary Society.  It was the Scottish missionary David Livingstone who sowed the first educational seeds in the area, and led other missionaries to also establish church schools. According to Pretorius (1975) Livingstone’s efforts to establish a Christian mission station at Linyanti were hindered by the swampy conditions around Sekeletu’s capital.

James Helmore-Roger Price expedition: This expedition ended in failure and tragedy as missionaries were given poisoned ox mea,t and the Helmores and Mrs Price succumbed to the poison and died (Kruger, 1984). It is thought that the non-appearance of Livingstone, who had indicated intentions to build a missionary station at Linyanti and serve as the intermediary with the Matebele, and the 120 carriers who had
accompanied him to the east coast several years before, had soured the Makololo (Pretorius, 1975).

Roger Price-John Mackenzie expedition: In spite of the tragic end of the first effort to establish a missionary station among the Makololo in the Mafwe area, Roger Price and John Mackenzie twice prepared to make another effort, but the increasing unrest in the Kololo empire and the years of bloodshed between 1865 and 1885 stopped them from realising that (Northcott,1961). 

Another recorded attempt of a missionary to try penetrating the Mamili area was that of reverend Reed of the London Missionary Society towards the end of the First World War. His canoe was overturned by a hippopotamus, and as a result of his journey, he contacted malaria and died (Schwarz, 1928). All these efforts were aimed at establishing educational centres 

in Mamili area. Seventh Day Adventists – Roman Catholic Churches of 1920 and 1944: The Seventh Day Adventist Church established a mission school in the Caprivi Strip in the 1920s at Katima Mulilo, followed 

by the Roman Catholic Capuchin Fathers, who established a school at the same place in 1944 (Buys and Nambala, 2003). Reports of the Bechuanaland Protectorate Administration of 1925 indicate that there were Seventh Day Adventist schools at Katima Mulilo and Linyanti.  Gilbert Willmore was the first Adventist resident missionary, and consequently followed and succeeded by others.  Because of the Second World War, the Seventh Day Adventist Church with its regional headquarters in Bulawayo (in Zimbabwe) found itself unable to satisfy what the administration of the Union of South Africa expected of it in terms of a better curriculum. It withdrew its white missionary staff , and abandoned the Katima Mulilo Mission Station and the management of the schools. (Kruger, 1984). 

Bush schools: Apart from the Katima Mulilo and Linyanti schools, there were bush schools in some areas, notably at Sibbinda and Makanga, emanating from the Seventh Day Adventists education system. The teachers at Sibbinda included John Misika Chizimbo, Wilmore Sembeke Kabika and Andrew Puteho Masida. These schools came into being as self-help initiatives.  The learners would meet under a tree every day, and the teachers from the local communities, who had mastered the recital of the 10 Commandments, would teach them.  

The teachers would meet on a Saturday to discuss the lessons for the following week. Although bush schools had defects, they rendered a great service in a way, because they enabled the learners some basics to read and write. They were neglected, poor and under-supervised. The buildings were usually shacks or mud and grass thatched structures and, in most cases, learners were taught under trees.  

The curriculum comprised 
three R’s (reading, writing and basic arithmetic), gardening, local crafts and character development through moral and religious instruction and practice. Because most of the teaching was done under trees, during rainy periods, there were no classes. Payment of teachers was made in the form of clothes, food and so on, and the only further education of these schools was priesthood (Ellis, 1984).  The withdrawal of the Seventh-Day Adventists brought the Roman Catholics to the Caprivi in 1944, who were well-established at Sichili in Zambia and their regional headquarters at Victoria Falls. The Roman Catholics first established their school at Lisikili ,and later moved to Katima Mulilo in 1945 (Kruger, 1984). 

Father Albius expedition: After a journey on foot of almost 200km from Katima Mulilo via Zilitene to Linyanti, Father Albius held discussions with teachers and traditional authority at Linyanti, and agreed that learners from Sibbinda who were schooling at Linyanti be given their own school. 

These learners included Gilbert Likando Mujiwa, Gabriel Muyoba Chasunda, Pitrosi Lishembo Ziambo, Desmond Mukanye Mulauli, Robinson Muitati
Misika and Munyanyami. Induna Thomas Malunga Kabende was sent to Sibbinda in 1948 pertaining to the possibility of opening a school there. 

On 16 August 1949, Sibbinda Primary School opened its doors to some learners who were schooling at Linyanti and others who were picked and recruited in the vicinity of Sibbinda (Sibbinda Primary School History, 1994). The first three principals came from Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), and later on local teachers were promoted to be principals of the school until today. 

Contribution to the society: It should be 

mentioned that Sibbinda Primary School produced personalities of note like ambassadors (Albert Lushetile), administrators (late Lovemore Lupalezwi former director of education), (Percy Misika, former permanent secretary in the ministry of agriculture and United Nations FAO Representative in Uganda and China), academicians (professor Tubaundule, both lecturers at NUST, Prof. Lilemba former lecturer at UNAM and University of Barotseland and Bethel University in Mongu, Zambia), politicians (Francis Mungu, James Kanyanso, Richard Kabunga, John Mabuku, Mike Lukaezi) freedomfighters (Bornface Chasunda, Kenneth Katahile, who sacrificed their lives in the struggle; Bornface Makanyisa, Albius Bayole, came back from the liberation struggle, and are buried in Sibbinda. 

Despite the role the school played in moulding the youth and producing personalities, and the commitment and devotion of parents to see their children through education in those mud-and-grass-thatched structures all those years, the school building is very old and almost falling apart.

*Professor Makala Lilemba is an academician,
author, diplomat, motivational leader, researcher and scholar.