By Albertina Nakale
WINDHOEK – About 2 550 learners, who sat for Grade 10 exams in 2014 and are 17 years old or younger, will be allowed to repeat Grade 10 fulltime this year – a slight decrease from 2 665 candidates who repeated last year.
Among the 2 665 repeaters who re-sat exams last year, about 1 799 (67.5 percent) made it to Grade 11 this year.
Out of the 35 592 candidates who registered for Grade 10 examinations last year, 19 264 have qualified for admission into Grade 11 this year. This represents 54.1 percent of the candidates who have qualified for Grade 11.
The Ministry of Education over the years has made it customary to allow learners who sat for the Junior Secondary Certificate (JSC) Grade 10 examinations and who have not met the promotion requirements to Grade 11 to repeat in the formal education system.
However, this year the ministry has put mechanisms in place to address the Grade 10 repeaters’ plight.
Johanna Absalom, Chief Public Relations Officer in the Ministry of Education, said such mechanisms include that Grade 10 full-time candidates who are 17 years old or younger, who have not met the promotion requirements to Grade 11 will be allowed to repeat Grade 10 as full-time candidates.
“If a candidate chooses to repeat Grade 10 as full-time learner at a school, the candidate will not be allowed to carry forward the subject symbols of the previous examinations,” Absalom said.
“This means that if a candidate was in Grade 10 in 2014, as a full-time candidate and chooses to repeat Grade 10 as a full-time candidate in 2015, only the subject symbols of the 2015 school year will be considered,” she said.
Further, Absalom explained that the Grade 10 candidates who are above 17 and did not meet the admission requirements to Grade 11 are encouraged to register with part-time centres such as Namibia College of Open Learning (Namcol) and other centres registered with the Ministry of Education to upgrade their subject symbols.
She added that the main objective is to allow such candidates to build up subject credits over a number of years in order to meet the admission requirements to Grade 11.
Optionally, learners who are repeating are advised to register with vocational training centres (VTCs) through Namibia Training Authority (NQA) and COSDECs to improve their skills in vocational education and training.
The Minister of Education, Dr David Namwandi, however warned learners who did not make it for both Grade 11 and tertiary level to be wary of bogus institutions who are out there robbing people of their hard-earned money by promising qualifications which are not accredited by NQA.
“We have an elephant is the kraal. Money is hard to come by. I saw a student who went to study in London. Parents spent a lot of money and when they went to NQA, they were told that the institution was not recognised. A toilet paper is even better,” he warned.
Further, Namwandi threatened any institutions “taking Namibians for granted that they will be locked up and remain behind bars once caught. We cannot afford to dilute our education system”.