Query: Johannes Matheus writes: “Right Honourable Prime Minister I am a commerce teacher and I worked for more than ten years as an ordinary teacher. I would like to ask why commerce teachers remain ordinary teachers. There is no promotion post for commerce but some of us want to remain in the education field. We are placed under either Social Science Department or under Language Department. I am kindly requesting your office to look into unfair placement of teachers under wrong departments.”
Response: All posts are filled through open competition, meaning that vacancies are advertised and filled through interview. This is applicable across all government offices, as in accordance with the Public Service Act.
Query: In addition, Right Hon. Prime Minister, we need to be financially motivated too because at the moment commerce teachers cannot apply for principal posts because one needs to be a Head of Department (HoD) first before you become a principal. I suggest that since commerce is a pre-vocational subject we need to be given provision to apply for the principal posts or we should be appointed as senior teachers to attract more qualified people to come and teach Accounting, Economics, Entrepreneurship and Business Studies. What do you think?
Response: A staff member may only apply for a post on the next higher functional level than the one s/he is on within the job category concerned.
Commerce is a field of study in our schools, therefore promotional posts are available for everybody at schools offering the commerce field, and as such schools have designated Head of Department (HoD) positions.
Query: Tate Hiwete Hekandjo is worried that 26 years after our country’s political freedom children are still forced to study Afrikaans as a second language in most schools around Windhoek at a primary education level. He said very few schools in Windhoek offer languages such as Otjiherero, Damara/Nama and Oshiwambo. Why?
Response: Like all other languages in Namibia, Afrikaans is recognized as an indigenous language. It is the provision of the Ministry for learners to be taught in their respective mother tongues. A class group should have at least 35 learners for it to be taught in mother tongue. Due to multi-culturalism in Windhoek, some schools do not meet this quota hence some learners are taught in the dominant languages, English or Afrikaans, while others indeed are taught in their mother tongue or home language.
There is also a lack and scarcity of qualified indigenous language teachers. To address this challenge, the Ministry encourages the youth and Namibian citizens to pursue studies to become qualified language teachers, but the interest is low.
The Ministry has also formed partnerships with other SADC countries to fill this gap. The Ministry has also signed a Memorandum of Understanding/bilateral agreement with Botswana. Through the MoU, the Ministry recruits language teachers who will be teaching Setswana in the Omaheke Region in Namibia.
Query: Rizo would like to know to what extent a principal’s rights on the school ground go? A principal told my child “get out of my school yard before I push you out myself”. Is it right for the principal to utter such words?
Response: All actions with regard to learner discipline are guided by the Education Act No. 16 of 2001, which constitutes general rules of conduct for learners and the teaching profession. School principals are also guided by the Teachers’ Code of Conduct in their profession. Therefore, teachers and learners should act within the provision of what the Education Act stipulates. Furthermore, there are disciplinary measure in place on how the school management can deal with indiscipline, as outlined in the school’s code of conduct, drafted and adopted by the school board in consultation with parents.
The Ministry would like to urge learners and parents to familiariase themselves with the code of conduct, and school principals to lead with zeal and humility, and avoid inappropriate language use on school grounds.
Overall, the Namibian government through the Constitution of the Republic of Namibia prohibits the application of corporal punishment. The Education Act No. 16 of 2001 also prohibits the application of corporal punishment on any learner by a staff member while performing their duty as teachers.
• Johanna Absalom, Public Relations Officer, Ministry Of Education, Arts and Culture, E-mail Address: Johanna.Absalom@moe.gov.na/adsando10@gmail.com