Suzith Tjitaura
KEETMANSHOOP – //Kharas education director Jesmine Magerman said while the region performed poorly in the 2024 national examination results, it is time for introspection.
She said it is imperative that principals investigate what went wrong from lower grades, which makes them struggle to master higher grade syllabuses.
Speaking during the annual principals’ meeting at Lüderitz on Wednesday, Magerman said principals, especially those at primary schools, should scrutinise why learners are not well-prepared for the junior and senior secondary phases.
The region dropped from position three to 11 in the Namibia Senior Secondary Certificate Ordinary level results, while in the Advanced Subsidiary level results, the region dropped from 11th to 12th position.
“What is not done right in Mathematics from Grade 1 up to Grade 9 that our learners cannot master the basic mathematical concepts? Something is very wrong. Our learners do not do very well in Geography and History, and when looking at the performance of Grades 4 to 7 learners in Social Studies, we can understand that learner performance is not good in grades 10 and 11.”
The director said it is imperative that teachers are correctly placed according to their qualifications.
She raised concern about absenteeism among teachers at schools, adding that those teachers present cannot conduct teaching properly because they need to attend to the absent teachers’ classes too.
“Understand me correctly, a sick teacher will not be productive, but a teacher who stays away from their duties because he or she does not feel up to teaching for the day is not acceptable. A teacher who comes to school, but is actually absent because they are not in the classroom or are in the classroom but not actually teaching the full lesson period, cannot succeed,” she stressed.
Magerman further called on parents to take up their responsibility in motivating and supporting their children to take their education seriously, noting that it is evident that where parents pay close attention to their children’s progress in school every day, those learners perform well.
-Nampa