Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro Thanks, the festive hype is over and gone, hopefully never to return to Namibian shores. At least not in the form we have been seeing it hitherto. A sham that it has been. Now it is back to reality. Like in years gone by, one of these realities is the close to half of the Grade 10s and Grade 12s who are unable to attain the grade each year. Admittedly, there has over the years been a quantitative improvement. Granted but my concern is rather with close to a half of the candidates in both grades who are yearly somehow grounded, off-loaded or left by the wayside of the educational system. Yes, the Namibia College of Open Learning and its vocational soul mates countrywide are ready and able to absorb some of them. Not even half of them. Whatever happens to what may be a big chunk of them, I am sure the governmental spin-doctors will tell us. But my suspicion, as lay as it may be, is that many end up in the swelling ranks of the army of the unemployed. This has been a scenario playing itself out every year in hopeless sequels for as long as we have known Statehood. With little jobs prospects given the high unemployment rate in the country, it is not an exaggeration that many end up in the army of the unemployed. In view of the fact for a long time we are as yet to experience a boom in our economy and the fact that neither can we hope of increasingly absorbing them in our armed forces given the peace and tranquillity we have been enjoying – it is not long before the army of the unemployed become an army of the hopeless, destitute and a ready pool of drunkards, rapists, drug-pushers, prostitutes, you name it. In fact, the signs are already there. As the PM well admits, “unemployed youth have the potential of becoming a destabilising force socially.” Some of these unemployed youth are none other than those that the education system throws out before they are of any meaningful use either to themselves or to society. Yet few seem to appreciate the gravity of the problem. One wonders whether those we currently manage to process through our institutions of higher learning and training are enough to cater to our human resources needs in a few years’ time with such a substantial number falling by the wayside? Still spin-doctors are trigger happy to offer all sorts deflections without pausing to reflect on the depth and reality of the problem, real or perceived. To them everything is in order as long as they are in the vantage position of dishing out to the public some official rationalisations bordering on absurdities and earn a salary month’s end. Naturally then in the case of deficiency in school results the blame thus lies with teachers, the pupils, parents and the society at large. Yes, as parents we cannot run away from our share of the blame. But everyone involved must have the courage to stand up to her/his responsibility and to shoulder the blame when the system fails to deliver. I shall in this instance point a finger to parents, being a parent myself, in an act of introspection and soul-searching. As far as the system is concerned I shall be watching for this space for the spin-doctors in the Ministry of Education to come with their own introspection. I am particularly informed by the recent singular experience of a parent, if this is anything to go by, whose child could not reach the bar. This is despite admitting that the child has not been struggling scholarly. The school is neither to be blamed being among the top in the capital. So where does the blame lie? Obviously somewhere between the pupil and the parent. As we are about to enter the first semester of yet another school year, I am sure there is something that parents out there can do against the swelling army of the unemployed if only keeping one child from this army that elicits little pride amongst its recruits. By the closure of the year I pleaded with parents to have a serious face-to-face parent-child talk during the holiday period. I wonder how many bothered? It is not late. There cannot be a better time than now just before the schools re-open. Not as a one-off desperation. Another long year lies ahead of us and every second, minute or hour is crucial. This calls for a sustained engagement and involvement of parents in the education of their children. The ongoing efforts spearheaded by the Councillor of the Aminuis Constituency in view of the disappointing Grade 10 results in schools in the constituency, are commendable as belated as they are. Early last year the Director of Education for the Omaheke Region, Dr Theo Kamupingene, called for an urgent intervention by community leaders to, among others, investigate issues in constituencies hampering education. This genuine call of concern seems to have fallen on deaf ears. Party politics seem to come first among community leaders in the Omaheke constituencies. Following on the heels of Aminuis is the Governor of the Karas Region who is also calling for a stakeholders’ meeting in March. As long as the majority of products we as parents dish out to schools are rotten to the core, as they seem rotten, there is little that schools can do. Thus if the results in our schools are to get any better in the future, the buck must stop with us as parents and within our communities. In that sense the efforts of the two regional leaders need utmost commendation. One only hopes these are not one-off efforts early in the year but lasting and sustained ones through the year if they are to bear fruit at the end of this year.