Lahja Nashuuta

Creating a vibrant education system, prioritising decent school infrastructure, sheer passion for the Namibian child’s education and social progress through technology are hallmarks of the Nujoma presidency.

This is the view of former prime minister Nahas Angula, the man late Founding President Sam Nujoma first assigned to lay an independent Namibia’s education bedrock, which already started during their quest for the country’s independence while in exile.

Going down memory lane to locate Nujoma’s rich legacy in Namibian history, Angula recalls the deceased being an educationalist par excellence.

“Nujoma had a clear understanding and appreciation that Namibia’s struggle for independence would be meaningless unless and until Namibians themselves were involved in key economic sectors”, Angula stated.

Nujoma was a visionary, and knew where he wanted to take Namibia upon the attainment of independence. Even after independence, he continued to advocate for quality education at all academic levels, the former minister recalled.Under Nujoma’s administration, Angula served as Namibia’s first minister of education, culture, youth and sport from 1990 until 1995, whereafter he became the minister of higher education from 1995 to 2005.

“He never compromised on education. Early on, we found that children were being taught under trees, and that is when we put up a programme to build schools in the rural areas of our country in order to give all Namibian children an opportunity to attend school. He [Nujoma] was very serious and dedicated to the education of the Namibian child…”

“The late founding president valued education, and while in exile, he encouraged all the young people to go for schooling. Many young people were sent to West African countries to complete their secondary education. Amongst the beneficiaries of those early efforts are Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, who was sent to go and study in Sierra Leone,” he added.

Godfather

As the country marched towards independence, Nujoma tasked Angula with the mammoth responsibility of establishing a school for Namibian children who were in exile in Angola.

Some thus consider him Namibia’s education godfather.

Angula would lay the bedrock for Namibia’s education, transforming the sector from what was inherited from apartheid South Africa, overseeing the country’s first curriculum review and its subsequent implementation.

“I completed my first degree at the University of Zambia, and was immediately assigned to start that school in the bush in 1974. These are children whose parents were forced out of the Caprivi Strip of the Zambezi region because of the bloody war at the time between the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia fighters and the South African apartheid forces,” the modest Angula said.

Swapo at the time decided it wanted to take care of the young Namibians who were in exile by providing them with quality education and related opportunities, and did not send them to refugee camps.

“So, there was a place called Mayukwayukwa refugee camp in northwestern Zambia. Parents of those children were first sent there, but then Swapo appealed to the Zambian government that it would take care of them [exile children]. In 1976, the late founding president decided to send me to the United Nations to work with the United Nations Council for Namibia up to 1978. In the same year, one of our comrades, who was the secretary of education, died in a car accident, and I was called back to go and serve in that position.”

Angula said in 1979, he went back to Angola, where he first served as Swapo secretary for information, and later as secretary for education and culture.

“That was a very difficult time because within Namibia, there was conscription. Many young people were being conscripted forcibly into the army of the colonial forces. 

So, many young people left the country, and that meant we had to expand our education system. After the Cassinga massacre of 1978, the Cubans decided to establish schools in Cuba for the survivors of Cassinga…”

“Swapo had two schools there, and later also decided to establish a school in the Republic of Congo [Congo-Brazil]. One of the things Nujoma did was to make sure that there were financial resources allocated to the sector of education. That’s why we were able to expand and make sure that our children were in schools all over,” he narrated.

Even after independence, Angula said the government never compromised on access to education and the construction of more schools, which played a crucial role in the achievement of a 95% enrolment rate countrywide when he left the education sector in 2005.

“During Nujoma’s tenure, the enrolment of school-children grew up to 95%, and the pass rate at the secondary school level also increased”.

The veteran politician-cum-educator, however, expressed concern with the growing number of school dropouts and limited resources being allocated to the education sector at present.

“The country’s education system is descending. If you go to shopping malls and traffic lights, you will see that there are minors who are supposed to be in schools, looking for money and food, and most of them are barefoot. This was a rare scene during Nujoma’s administration”, he stressed.

He added, “I enjoyed the fact that after every two months, I would go to a rural area to open new schools. Now, I see in the newspapers that teaching under trees and under the shacks has come back. I don’t know why it happened. Nujoma believed in progress. He facilitated the building of health centres, the railway to Ondangwa, and many others. 

One thing about Nujoma is that once he decided on something, he had decided, and he would not waver. He was a very firm leader.”

-lnashuuta@gmail.com