By Emma Kakololo WINDHOEK A three-day talk shop that held intense discussions to deliberate on the country’s education blueprint, that once implemented would meet the challenges within the developmental goal of Vision 2030, ended on Wednesday. The need to address issues of quality and equity with regard to disadvantaged learners were among critical concerns raised during this all-important meeting that provided development partners and stakeholders in the education sector an opportunity to advise Government on areas that require further improvement. At the end of the deliberations, Education Minister Nangolo Mbumba noted that crosscutting issues of capacity building, HIV/AIDS Prevention and Management, Gender and Information Communication Technology (ICT) would be revised to ensure they inform the quality of Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme ETSIP sub-programs in an integrated way. He did not foresee any problems why the ETSIP document should not be tabled at the upcoming round table now that the meeting reached consensus on issues of concern. The round table is scheduled for next month. “General agreement has been reached on the rationale, scope and content of ETSIP within the framework of our socio-economic development as envisaged in Vision 2030,” he stated. “The conduct of the pre-appraisal has been testimony to our ongoing partnership, partnership in development and indeed partnership in education. This spirit of partnership should continue, up to the round table and through the implementation,” he added. It is estimated that over N$1.5 billion would be needed for the implementation ETSIP to run over a five-year period. Mbumba commended delegates for their consistent support and he urged them to continue with it. “The ETSIP we have been talking about is going to start moving, out of this room to all over the country, ” he insisted. “The comments and suggestions made by different development partners and stakeholders have been noted. Observations with regard to omissions, lack of clarity and need for elaboration as well as substantiation to various sub-programs have been received positively. We will make the necessary improvements,” said Mbumba.