WINDHOEK – Prominent Namibian academic Professor Joseph Diescho says the Cambridge education system is worse than the colonial Bantu education system.
Professor Diescho made the remark during one of the first education planning training workshops to be organized by the education ministry. The workshop was held at the Namibia Institute of Public Administration and Management (NIPAM), which is headed by Professor Diescho – its executive director. Professor Diescho in his opening remarks said the Cambridge system is “worse than Bantu education.” He also expressed shock over the fact that the education ministry does not have education planners 24 years after independence.
“That acknowledgement should have been made in 1992,” remarked Diescho during the opening of a week-long education sector diagnosis workshop underway at NIPAM. “If we don’t have planners what is the game plan?” asked Diescho, who emphasised the need for planning in education, especially because according to him “we were victims of history.” He said when Namibia attained its independence “we were too excited with independence” and that the need for proper planning was neglected. The education system, he added is in many ways worse now than it was at independence. “In 1991, we didn’t think what we wanted for ourselves. Education is about survival,” he said. He also touched on the phased teacher-trainer colleges, saying “somebody’s not thinking, somebody’s not planning.”
“We in Africa have a disease, our planning capacity is very underdeveloped and neglected. Let’s become realistic, the nations that survive better are those that focus on the future not the past,” he said. The deputy Permanent Secretary of Finance and Administration, Hannu Shipena in his remarks admitted that “things are not well in educational planning.” Shipena said the education ministry and its stakeholders have plans to conduct training for planners in education. According to him the main aim of the workshop is to help to institutionalise education planning in the ministry. Education planning is defined as the application of rational, systematic analysis to the process of educational development with the aim of making education more effective and efficient in responding to the needs of students and society.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Minister of Education Dr David Namwandi said the ministry is preparing to sign a memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NIPAM soon. The MoU is intended to ensure that education planning is based on practical realities. Another workshop will be held on April 04. “The education planning training workshops as planned are very timely and critical as the education system requires drastic measures to address the high dropouts and repetition rates, as well as persistent unacceptable pass rates of Grade 10 and 12 learners,” said Namwandi.
By Alvine Kapitako