John Muyamba

RUNDU - Deputy minister of youth Emma Kantema-Gaomas says many learners go through challenges and urged schools to ensure that the Life Skills subject be taken seriously.

She said learners can be taught on issues affecting them in their daily lives and teachers can also learn what learners are challenged with and therefore assist them accordingly.

The deputy youth minister made the remarks during her personal capacity donation of stationery and sanitary pads to Kayengona Combined School in Rundu Rural constituency, Kavango East.

“I had a short briefing with the school and a lot is not right, especially with female learners, some drop out of school due to teenage pregnancy and some learners are regulars at shebeens mingling with elders, abusing alcohol and by that losing focus on school,” she said yesterday. “Life Skills is a very important subject; we don’t want to hear that Life Skills periods are free where teachers don’t teach. It should be taken seriously as it is a very important subject. We are nurturing learners from different backgrounds. We heard some are orphans; some are from backgrounds of abuse and some from single parent homes and child-headed households. Through this subject, we can identify the problems our youths are going through,” she noted.

Kantema –Gaomas while donating sanitary pads to the school said there are some girls that miss three to four days of school because of menstruation and some eventually drop out.

 She said she was also aware of a situation where a girl in the Kunene region committed suicide after being bullied at school because of menstruation. She said these problems could be avoided through the knowledge that learners can get through Life Skills classes.

Kantema-Gaomas urged learners of Kayengona Combined School to be disciplined and respect teachers at the school.

She encouraged them to use social media positively and not insult elders as some have been doing. The deputy minister said learners could search for the ministry’s Facebook page as well as other useful and educative pages to keep them informed of what is happening around them.

- jmuyamba@nepc.com.na