The governor of the Khomas region said the closing of hostels in the region has an impact on performance, absenteeism and the dropout rate of secondary learners due to hunger.
The Khomas regional governor Laura Mcleod Katjirua Khomas region said this during the state of regional address on Friday.
She said the region has 24 public and four private hostels, including one community hostel. The public hostels have an accommodation capacity of 3 953 boarders.
The number of schools in the Khomas region has decreased from 141 to 137 in 2022 due to the impact of Covid -19. Those that closed are private schools.
She said there is a need for the construction of a primary and secondary school with hostel facilities in the Mix Settlement.
There is also “a need to purchase or construct permanent directorate head office and the construction of a regional teachers resource centre on the area adjacent to Acacia High School. There is a need to secure pre-approved institutional land/plots from the City of Windhoek for education purposes,” said Katjirua.
The governor said the learners’ enrolment has increased from 97 176 in 2021 to 100 255, up by 2 177 learners in 2022, whilst the number of teachers recorded by the 15th-day school statistics stood at 3 657.
“The number of teachers would have increased by this time, as several vacancies had not been filled by the capturing of the 15th-day school statistics,” she said.
She said the region has 24 public and four private hostels, including one community hostel. The public hostels have an accommodation capacity of 3 953 boarders.
“Augustinium Secondary School and Concordia College hostels have been fully renovated. The Concordia College hostel already re-opened in 2022, but the Augustineum hostel will, in all likelihood, only open its doors for boarders in 2023. The hostel at Ella Du Plessis is partly renovated (three blocks).
“The education facilities completed under 2021/2022 are 45 additional classrooms, 22 ablution blocks, two science labs and libraries, a borehole and an administration block at 34 schools in Windhoek West, Tobias Hainyeko, Moses //Garoeb, Khomasdal, Windhoek Rural and Katutura East constituencies, respectively,” she said.
She indicated the education facilities under construction are the construction of 32 classrooms at Dr Abraham Iyambo PS and Havana Project SS to the tune of N$87 million as well as the construction of the Groot Aub Secondary School and hostel at the amount of N$9 million.
The ongoing pre-primary classrooms for construction for 2022/2023 are 18 classrooms and ablution facilities at Augeikhas PS, Moses Garoeb PS, Marti Ahtisaari PS, Faith PS, Theo Katjimune, Namibia PS, Dagbreek School as well as the School for Visually Impaired to the tune of N$6.7 million.
Besides these mentioned visible and tangible achievements, our education sector has the following pressing challenges that need the attention and consideration of all stakeholders.
Another challenge outlined by Katjirua is the lack of sufficient classrooms in general, especially for the Monte Christo Project Primary School and Mount View High School – and the need for the construction of a
few more schools in Windhoek between now and 2030.
She said there is a need for the construction of about 18 schools, respectively, over the next 10 years.
The governor further said there is a need for the “secondment of arts and culture activities and exclusion of school counsellors in curriculum development and review. The need for the construction of additional ablution facilities, about 42 blocks in total, with 22 for pre-primary class groups and the rest for historical backlogs.
“There is a need for the construction of education centres (to house circuit offices, other services such as community libraries, community learning and development centres, mini teachers resource centres and adult learning centres. There is a need for the construction of a permanent regional examinations centre that will house a part-time examinations hall,” she said.
– ljason@nepc.com.na