SINCE July a section of the Namibian media has splashed its news headlines most of which reached the front pages of this particular daily on the plight concerning Namibian students in Malaysia, particularly those studying at the Binary College in Kuala Lumpur.
These complaints concern a litany of complaints ranging from living conditions to the even serious one casting doubt on the credibility of this particular college, and ultimately the validity of the qualification that these students would ultimately obtain from this particular college.
Hence, if a dark cloud has been cast on these qualifications as they seem to have been, then the future of these students remain doubtful as well.
By now one should belief that this matter have reached the highest echelons of the Namibian government if only because of the fact that the Minister of Education, Dr David Namwandi, was in person in Malaysia to hear from the students themselves. Not only this but at one point even the Prime Minister was quoted as eagerly awaiting a proper briefing on this matter for it to serve before Cabinet.
And to crown it all the Namibia Qualifications Authority (NQA), obviously very much in the loop about the issue, has also been reported to be investigating the particular college. As much the First Lady, Penexupifo Pohamba, accompanied by the Minister of Home Affairs, Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana, and the Minister of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, Rosalia Nghindinua, among others, was in Malaysia in June when they had lunch with the students and may thus naturally well be aware of the plight of some of the Namibian students in that friendly country.
Thus, there is no doubt that this matter is known at the top level of the Namibian government. Not only this but one hopes that it is receiving the due and necessary attention that it deserves. More so in view of the fact that some of the students have subsequent to their plight becoming public knowledge in Namibia, been returning home although the reasons for their return remains shadowy and sketchy. But the allegations are that actual unbearable conditions in Malaysia have forced them back.
Subsequent to the media reports concerning the plight of some of the Namibian students in Malaysia, the Malaysian government has tried to refute and rebut reports about the plight of these students.
Malaysian High Commissioner to Windhoek, Mustafa Mansoor, was quoted by the particular daily as saying the Malaysian Education Ministry having conducted an in-depth investigation into the matter attributing the dissatisfaction to only one student.
This goes against the first-hand accounts to the Namibian Minister of Education when he visited that country, an occasion during which the students impressed upon him their plights.
The Minister then was reported to have been fuming upon hearing first -hand accounts of the plight of the students, promising that he would take the matter further, even in needs be have these students repatriated home. Not long after news of the plight of the students about four of them have been reported to have returned home. Neither do the rebuttals and refutations by the Malaysian High Commission seem to have done much to put the matter to rest.
That is why in the interest of the good relations between the two sister countries, and the welfare of the Namibian students in Malaysia, and their eventual successful continuation and completion of their studies, that the matter not only enjoy respective, if not joint due and urgent attention of the two education authorities and governments. To say the least, if one reads between the lines of the litanies of complaints, one cannot but small a rat somewhere. This is not only speaking about the living conditions of the students but also about the crucial question of accreditation of the courses these students are studying. Yes, having been a student one cannot but give the Malaysian High Commissioner the benefit of the doubt that some of the students may be spending their allowances “destructively” giving rise to the situation of want that seem to prevail in terms of their conditions of living. But this is equally not a matter that can be taken on its face value but in view of the fact that these students are far away from home, and their relatives who could come to their rescue in times of grave want and need, it is only fair to expect the two educational authorities to have done their homework in terms of especially properly assessing the cost of living of the students while there, something where there seems little evidence that this has been done. As much a proper check does not seem to have been done in terms of the validity of the courses.
One understands that the students are getting an allowance of US$300 from which they must pay everything including accommodation, etc.
This is too good to be true. This is almost the same amount students studying in Britain where getting way back in the 1980s. Does it mean life in Malaysia is so cheap, or the cost of living has somehow all these years been frozen? Something somewhere something doww
Surely should have a High Commission in this country that must have done the necessary assessment in this regard which does not seem to have been the case. So simply all those involved, our High Commission, the Namibia Student Financial Assistance Fund (NSFAF) must urgently revisit this issue and make the necessary amends and rectifications before the worse happens to our students!
By Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro