There are things which should be reformed, restored and encouraged through our education system. I would like to suggest that our traditional authorities be reformed and renamed in some cases to avoid tribalism and apartheid connotations. The system of many tribal kings/queens should be abolished by law. I think Namibia needs only one king or queen for the whole nation. It does not matter where this king or queen would be taken from: Keetmanshoop or Ondonga.
We should applaud Dr Sam Nujoma for his courage and effort to restore some of our African traditional festivals such as Olufuko/ Efundula, which has become an annual hit at Outapi every August.
There were some Christian critics of Olufuko Festival – regarding it as a pagan practice. These critics do not realise that the Christian church is already full of pagan practices which have been purified and consecrated by the church itself – for instance ,the wedding ring and the celebration of Easter on the Resurrection Sunday , just to name a few.
Historically speaking, the Christian churches in Namibia were custodians of both moral and academic education, but now some churches are deviating from this philosophy. In short, some churches are making people pastors and deacons without educating them properly. In Namibia, now, we have pastors who cannot communicate in the official language (English). At this moment there are many social problems (in Namibia) which need educated pastors to be solved, for example, pregnancy among schoolgirls, suicide and so forth.
If we had enough educated pastors and deacons they can work as volunteer counsellors at schools in every community. So, I suggest that the Ministry of Education can encourage education among pastors and deacons by administering English literacy tests to pastors and deacons who perform public duties – such as marriage officers, chaplains in hospitals and chaplains to prisoners etc.
Rev. Gabriel Hilifa Nekongo
Oshakati