By Frederick Philander
WINDHOEK
“The Ministry of Education regards itself as privileged to have a partner in education with the Federal Republic of Nigeria, a relationship that has now brought the second contingent of voluntary teachers to our country.”
This was said yesterday by the Deputy Minister of Education, Dr Becky
Ndjoze-Ojo.
She formally welcomed the 30 West African volunteer teachers prior to their departure to their workstations in nine educational regions.
“Today marks the culmination of a long process through which a formal agreement on technical human resources was signed between our two governments last year in Abuja, Nigeria. You have come at the right time, when the Namibian education system has taken a major reform to improve the quality of education and make it more responsive to the labour market,” Ndjoze-Ojo said.
She is confident that the country’s children will benefit from the expertise, experiences, knowledge and wisdom of the Nigerian teachers.
“I believe and trust that whichever region and community that are privileged to receive you, will consider themselves privileged, and therefore use not only the sound academic knowledge you bring, but also the rich experiences and innovative ideas that you posses,” she said.
According to her, good knowledge of mathematics and science is the very foundation of development.
“I wish to urge the students to be taught by these volunteer teachers to feel honoured and grab this opportunity with both hands, and use it to enhance their experiences and content of their education,” she said in complimenting the Nigerian High Commission for its visionary partnership with the Namibian Government.
At the same occasion the Permanent Secretary of Education, Vitalis Ankama, warned that the education system should not become too dependent on volunteer teachers.
“We will use the Nigerians in positions for which we cannot recruit suitable candidates as well as stand-in teachers with their Namibian counterparts, so as not to leave a vacuum when their term of two years expires. I hope our regional directors and school principals will give the foreign teachers all the support they need in their new postings. It was the schools that selected the volunteer teachers and not the Ministry of Education,” Ankama revealed.