Staff Reporter
Schools in the Khomas region are struggling with a shortage of teachers and classrooms, Khomas governor Laura McLeod-Katjirua has said.
“We are at a stage where we cannot ignore the recurring annual challenge of the placement of learners in schools in our region,” she said last week during the opening of the Khomas Regional Council meeting.
“We need to sit around the table as relevant responsible stakeholders to deliberate on the issue of the annual placement of learners as a matter of urgency.”
She said as governor, she took note of the shortages of teachers and classrooms in the region. However, she believes the shortage of classrooms is a sensitive issue which needs the council’s immediate attention because of the standing confirmation that the use of tents as classrooms proved to be a very unconducive environment to the learning and teaching process.
“On the placement of learners, I would like to request the Khomas community, more particularly the parents and guardians, to think anew and to reconsider their roles in the enrolment of learners for effective overall placement processes and procedures,” she stated.
“We need to explore all available means to root out the current destructive tendencies, which always end up putting the region in this predicament every year. Remember, the victim is always the innocent Namibian child.”
McLeod-Katjirua said the “rate of influx or urbanisation remains a bone of contention, and continues to put a heavy burden on our meagre resources, and constantly influences our service delivery in general.
Therefore, fellow leaders must be more focused, farsighted and keep their heads up to always see new stages of opportunities and strength to plan beyond this challenge”.
She further admitted that the country’s only city might not have been as clean as it could have been, but that the cleanliness of the city is the collective responsibility of the service providers and the service recipients.
“Inasmuch as we want to avoid littering, as service providers, we must also be hands-on to provide the needed resources and equipment to curb or discourage the littering behaviours or tendencies,” the governor said.
She further called on her fellow leaders to think anew and move forward with well-recharged determination, dedication and commitment to have a reimaged vision to take the region to its desired destiny.