By Frederick Philander
WINDHOEK
His ministry has for the past few years constantly been under fire for not living up to expectations of the public, and schools are being blamed for poor results in grades 10 and 12.
This was revealed on Friday by minister of education Nangolo Mbumba, who was the guest speaker at the inauguration of the new Gammams Primary School hall. The school also celebrated its 40th anniversary over the weekend.
“Under Etsip (Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme) the principals and management of schools will be held responsible for progress.
What is happening today here at this school is visionary leadership. It is those people with the gift of leadership, who are the ones who come up strategies, structures and who create opportunities for other people to use their gifts most effectively,” Mbumba said.
In his view the building of the new school hall supplements the Government in its quest to provide the much-needed resources and facilities to provide quality education.
“The development of a knowledge-based society has become the driving force as contained in Vision 2030. In order to ensure that the education system is able to respond to the challenges of the 21st century, Namibians will require a total transformation in education. This my ministry cannot do alone,” he said.
Gammams Primary School was started in 1968 as Laerskool No. 2 with Henry Plaatjies as the first principal. A year later it was given its present name with Theo Wyngaardt as the new principal.
“It is important to stress that Gammams Primary School did not rely on Government for resources. Celebrating this milestone is indeed an honour for my ministry,” the minister said.
To build the new hall the school organised several projects such as ‘bring-a-brick’ in which the learners had to bring a brick to build the hall, as well as donations.