Once upon a time, Namibia had an abundance of job opportunities. The Grade 10 and 12 certificates were valuable in seeking employment. Once upon a time, schools (principals) went to look for teachers at colleges, even when they were still studying. Once upon a time, nurses in hospitals and clinics were dressed in the same uniform.

What happened to those days? 

Today is a new day.

Graduates, especially those who studied teaching, roam the streets. Today, hospitals and clinics are filled with student nurses, dressed in different uniforms from different institutions. While higher education institutions are enrolling hundreds of students, specialising in the faculties of education and nursing, new school, hospital or clinic is being built. This creates an imbalance between jobs and workers. Interestingly, this crisis has been occurring before the eyes of the highly educated, yet nothing has been done about it. 

The unemployment rate keeps growing, but no one in the government raises an eyebrow. Namibia has been neglecting its young generation from prosperity.

One worrisome issue our leaders can’t realise is the fact that the scramble of higher education in Namibia is narrowing in the two specialisations – teaching and nursing.

Many people have different passions and career options, but the unemployment situation in the country forces them to have no other choice but to enrol in the two congested courses.

This practice poses two problems.

One is higher unemployment, and the other is killing young people’s dreams.

For instance, one can have the passion to become a pharmacist or engineer; however, the country does not have adequate job opportunities for such courses. Therefore, many people specialise in teaching and nursing as their last resort for job opportunities. 

As people have no other option but to enrol in the two courses, this only creates more problems.

Firstly, the lack of fulfilment at work, and the second one is poor service delivery. 

For example, a person who aspires to study hospitality and tourism is forced to study teaching. When he or she becomes a teacher, he or she cannot deliver at his or her highest level. This leads to many pupils at schools failing.

Today, the performance of pupils countrywide is going down.

Similarly, a person who dreams of becoming a journalist because of a lack of job opportunities might be forced to do nursing. If he or she becomes a nurse, this person will make many mistakes at work.

As we all know, health is very sensitive. Every small error made leads to another health-related problem. Eventually people will die, or patients will not be assisted with caring hearts. 

Many complaints have been reported that nurses, especially student nurses, hardly attend to patients and rather go to work to use their cellphones and extend their lunch breaks to more than an hour.

On a surface level, one can conclude that people in such positions are not committed to their work. However, on a deeper level, some of the employees do so because they have no passion for their jobs, but the situation of the economy gives them no other option.

To solve this problem, our leaders must look at the bigger picture.  Instead of blaming employees for poor service delivery, they should think of what is making many young people enrol in the two saturated courses, teaching and nursing.

It is not a coincidence; people need job security, and they will choose careers that will enable them to put bread on the table, regardless of the type of service they provide. 

Sadly, many are taken, but only a few are chosen. No one can be blamed for enrolling in the two courses because everyone is hopeful that they will be the chosen one.

The only way Namibia can produce competitive and passionate professionals is to create job opportunities for people to have the freedom to enrol in courses they are passionate about. There is no bliss in waking up every day for a job that does not bring fulfilment.

*Daniel Sampayo is a freelance teacher and writer.