WINDHOEK– The Minister of Education, Dr David Namwandi, on Monday fired Suiderhof Primary School board chairperson and stripped the acting principal of her acting position, but she remains a head of department and a teacher at the school.
The two, former board chairperson Cornelius d’Elton, and former acting principal Mariaan Myburgh, defied a government directive not to charge parents for stationery, which is provided free of charge by the government. Last week, Namwandi visited the school following complaints by unhappy parents who were required to buy stationary for their children. Last week Wednesday, the school went as far as bringing a mobile stationary shop on the school premises where parents queued up to buy school stationery.
“D’Elton’s service as chairperson of school board has been terminated with immediate effect for lapse in conduct,” Namwandi said in a statement issued late yesterday afternoon. According to the statement the regional office is currently underway with the restructuring of the school management given that the school currently has no principal. “In the meantime, an acting principal will be recommended through the regional office, while the position of principal, which has been vacant is being advertised,” the statement read.
Namwandi described as “uncalled for” the practice by certain public schools to demand that parents pay for the stationery used by their children or be left out of the school programme. The same day, Namwandi informed the school board to end the practice, but his directive was ignored leading to the summary dismissal of the board chairperson.
“It is high time we open our eyes and see how things are. The days are long gone when we were fooled. The Republic of Namibia has availed N$418 per year per child. You want to tell me you can’t buy quality pencils and books from this money? I do not see the reason how schools can say materials are not of a high quality and then end up defying government. It is not fair and it is total indiscipline,” thundered Namwandi.
Also, in the //Karas Region the education directorate has since last week been investigating a school principal for demanding stationery from parents, ostensibly because some of the government-issue stationery is of a poor quality. Namwandi said he is not unduly harsh on schools, but is simply carrying out the government mandate on the provision of free primary school education.
“So if I go to any school and I find out that it is selling stationeries to parents, I will talk to them to stop but if I came back and they were still defying, I would use minimum interference to bring about normality. I wish this will now send a message to everyone who tries to defy government directives. I told Suiderhof to refund the parents and they did not do it,” he told New Era yesterday.
“I issue a directive again that this trend should come to an end. No parent should be charged for what government is already providing, unless they voluntarily want to help the school,” he reiterated.
He said the government never prohibited parents from giving money to a school if they so wish.
“We said education is a shared responsibility. But what is prohibited is to formalise it by saying if your child is not bringing this or that with them, then no school, or no report for them. That is a crime. There should not be any confusion about universal primary education,” said the education minister.
By Albertina Nakale