WINDHOEK– The Jakob Marengo Secondary School, unlike most of the schools in Namibia, does not have a Learners Representatives Council (LRC) because they believe in school governance.
Instead they have a system called Turma. Turma is a Portuguese word for ‘a group of people who work together to perform a specific function’. With the turma system every learner at the school gets involve in some aspect of running of the school and that’s why the school created six turmas; the classroom turma, the disciplinary turma, the homework turma, the teacher turma, the maintenance turma and the extra mural turma. Learners who belong to the classroom turma are responsible for creating a conducive environment within the classroom so that teachers are able to begin teaching the moment they enter a classroom. The disciplinary turma’s duty is to inculcate self-discipline in all learners.
The teacher turma ensures that there is relationship between the learners and the teachers. The maintenance turma’s duty is to ensure that the school grounds are well kept and clean, and should make sure the school environment, building or anything else is in place. Last but not least, the extra mural turma organises all events outside the formal school activities.
Every learner who applies for admission is automatically accepted, provided the learner qualifies for the grade, irrespective of the number of points. The school that has turned 30 years more than two weeks ago, also accepts learners who have failed or who have been transferred. “We believe firmly in participating democracy and we also believe that every child has the right to education. It is therefore expected that the end-of-year results would span the whole spectrum.” The southern extension of the school and the computer laboratory was built with funding by the Japanese and German governments. The learners started wearing uniforms only five years ago ever since the school’s existence.
The Turma is made up of six learners and teachers responsible for homework, extra morals, maintenance, discipline and teachers. “We train children that if you live in a society, you should be part of the society. This Turma are part of decision making,” says the principal, Ottilie Abrahams. Abrahams adds that the school like any other school faces challenges but overcome them through communicating with learners and parents. “One of our problems is the lack of involvement of parents. Another is children who do not know why they are at school. The medium of the school is English and many can’t speak English.”
The school fee per year for each learner is N$1500. Former learners like distinguished researcher, Herbert Jauch, Immaculate Mogotsi, Coordinator and lecturer in the Multi-disciplinary Research Centre at the University of Namibia (Unam) and chairperson of a Feminist Organization (Sister Namibia) as well as The Director of the Namibia Development Trust, Ronny Dempers.
In addition to celebrating its milestones, the 30th anniversary celebrations kicked off with various activities including a talent show, prize giving, a beauty pageant, artistic performances and competitions.