Ongwediva
A number of schools in Oshikoto Region are on the brink of closing down, as not enough learners are enrolling to justify the schools’ existence.
Because of the situation – attributed largely to poor planning and unnecessary pressure from communities and politicians – Oshikoto has at least one school that was built but never enrolled a single learner to date.
The region also has a school that could not attract any first grader this year and a number of others have as little as seven children per classroom.
According to the Director of Education in Oshikoto Region Lamek Kafidi, some areas do not have enough children, while others have too many schools catering for the same grades.
“But our people don’t understand that. If a politician goes to the area and sees four or five children, he will demand that a school to be built or communities would start complaining that the school is not developing,” Kafidi told New Era.
“But the children that they are talking about are already catered for at a different school. In the end you’re going to have buildings with no children.”
Among such schools are Omwandiwelago on the Oshigambo circuit that has offers pre-primary to Grade 4 classes.
The total population of the school includes only 82 learners. The teacher-learner ratio is 1:35, as per Ministry of Education stipulations. However, Omwandiwelago has an average of only 16 children per classroom.
Worst affected are Shikomba Junior Primary School on the Onyaanya circuit, which has become a white elephant and Majolo on the Oniipa circuit, which did not register a single learner in Grade 1 this year.
Majoro, which offers grades one to four, has only 23 learners spread over three grades. Other affected schools include Okwandja with 28 learners, Oshigwedha with 32 learners and Shanamutango with 34 learners.
Shikomba Junior in Uuhehe village is situated in a grazing area, where the majority of people are cattle-herders. There are no nearby households. The other schools are all located close to populated areas or near urban establishments.
“These communities have too many choices. That’s why we have empty schools, but you find them complaining that Kafidi is not developing a school. Mistakes were done in the past when those schools were established. No due diligence was done when they were conceived. All we can do now is to plan around them,” said Kafidi
Some community members are however unhappy about the pace at which schools are developing.
Kuku Alma Jafet, one of the residents in Oshigambo area that was at the helm of establishing Omwandiwelago, said parents often send their children to faraway schools in search of space in Grade 5 when there is a nearby school that has been at the village since 2009.
Kafidi maintains that the ministry is prepared to add classes to a school only if there are signs of growth. “They (parents) are the ones that are actually depriving the school of development by withdrawing children from the school. And I refuse to add a grade to a school where there is no sign of a future,” he said.
“Our major concern is the Oshigambo River that children have to cross every day when they go to school. Some children are just too young,” Kuku Jafet observed.