ONDERA - The deputy director of marginalised communities in the Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare, Rebekka Namwandi, has urged pupils from marginalised communities to improve their marks through the Namibia College of Open Learning (Namcol).

Namwandi made these remarks in an interview with Nampa on Tuesday, saying only three of the 51 pupils under the directorate’s programme for marginalised children qualified for further studies at a tertiary institution after the 2023 examination results were released.

The ministry’s educational support programme provides financial, moral and psychosocial support to pupils and students from the San, Ovatue, and Ovatjimba communities at all education levels.

“Only one pupil from the Omusati region and two from the Omaheke region out of more than 51 marginalised children managed to pass,” Namwandi said.

She said regardless of the negative results, the ministry wants to encourage the pupils not to give up and to improve their grades through Namcol so they can progress to tertiary education.

“I encourage all the pupils to apply to Namcol through their constituency offices and regional planners. They should not give up, failure is not the end of the road,” Namwandi said.

She also encouraged those who qualify for vocational training, to apply for their preferred courses.

“We have learnt that some of our children would love to go for vocational classes because they have technical ability, so they should pursue that,” she said.

She encouraged those who are admitted at tertiary institutions to study hard and obtain their qualifications so they can find employment and be useful citizens to the country.

“The situation is harder now so I want to encourage those who are at higher institutions to get their qualification so they can get jobs and uplift themselves,” said Namwandi. -Nampa