WINDHOEK – A wall clock, a portable weather station and mounted kudu horn trophy were among gifts the former education minister, Dr David Namwandi, received from the International University of Management (IUM) at a function held in his honour.
Speaker after speaker praised Namwandi for providing Namibians with the necessary skills to fight against poverty, disease and ignorance.
Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) secretary Dr Elijah Ngurare hailed Namwandi for introducing free primary education as well as initiating free secondary education that is still in the pipeline.
Ngurare described the introduction of free education as a “revolution in education”.
“You gave hope to ordinary young men and women in Okanguti, Okakarara, Okahao, Vaalgras, Aminuis. You deserve to walk with your head held high,” eulogised the SPYL leader.
He said Namwandi was selfless, had a vision, the will and the determination to contribute to the education of all Namibia.
“This university really started in a small dining room. A dream of David and Virginia has become a reality,” Ngurare said in reference to IUM that Namwandi founded with a handful of students now in their thousands.
He was praised for founding IUM that initially started with one student and one lecturer, and turning it into a global institution with over 10 000 students from all over the world because of its quality programmes.
On his part, Namwandi whose term as the minister of education ended last month, said he will continue to contribute to the education of the Namibian child with the wealth of experience he gathered over the years.
He also personally pledged N$50 000 to those Namibian students who are willing to pursue management studies.
“There is no company sponsoring students studying management, therefore, today in front of my lawyer Sisa Namandje, I am pledging N$50 000 to those willing to study management whether it is at Polytechnic of Namibia, IUM, University of Namibia or in South Africa,” he said, adding he will travel around the country to search for funds so that those trying to study management can fulfil their dream without having to worry how they are going to fund their studies at university level.
The event was graced by most notably, prominent lawyer, Sisa Namandje, former City of Windhoek mayor, Mathew Shikongo and the former director-general of the Namibia Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) Dr Ben Mulongeni, among others.
Founded in1994, with one student and a single lecturer, IUM has morphed into a global institution with students from overseas and other African countries and has a state-of-the-art main campus.