The German Embassy has made available N$100 000 to support learners and staff of the Wild Kids Academy Trust in Katima Mulilo, Zambezi region. This private school aims at improving academic performance, educational standards and the development of young learners in a specific way.
Along the traditional curriculum, the learners will be educated in environmental sustainability, making this school an example of a so-called “Forest School”.
The outdoor educational model will have the learners visit their environment on a regular basis, and acquire social and technical skills through a hands-on approach to nature. Having the school in the heart of the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area (KAZA TFCA) offers the students the opportunity to learn to live harmoniously with the existing wildlife and nature. They will also learn more about conservation and the sustainable utilisation of biodiversity. The funds were utilised to procure learning materials, such as textbooks and a photocopy machine.
This helps the school to increase its intake of students and eases the lesson preparation for the staff to facilitate the general flow of the lessons and school process.
Wild Kids Academy Trust was registered with the education ministry in 2021.
It has an enrolment of 101 learners.
Besides the traditional curriculum, the main aim of the school is to teach the learners to relate to nature constructively.
It allows them to learn to respect nature and the environment from an early age, and to unlock the possibilities for sustainable development of the resources offered by the surroundings. The Wild Kids Academy aims to offer bursaries to children from less-privileged backgrounds, especially conservancies. “This will bring about a diverse group dynamic and allow these children to share in their growth and developing process, as well as ploughing back into their communities once they finish school and apply their knowledge,” reads a statement from the German Embassy.
“It will be these learners who become the future adults who will have an understanding for nature and respect as well as love for their immediate environment, their country and the planet at large.”