WINDHOEK – The Ministry of Education has revealed that Namibia is on course to attain the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) with the net enrolment ratio in primary education at 99.6 percent in 2012.
Namibia introduced free primary education in 2012 following the national conference on education held in 2011.
According to the Namibia 2013 MDGs Progress Report, of the three MDG targets that Namibia has set for herself to achieve by the year 2015, the net enrolment in primary education has been achieved, the literacy rate is on target, while the survival to Grade 8 target is not achievable if current trends continue.
However, the chief public relations officer of the Ministry of Education, Johanna Absalom, says gross enrolment rates for the past few years highlighted inefficiencies in enrolling the maximum number of children in age appropriate grades.
She added that the survival rate for Grade 7s was 86 percent in 2012, 14 percentage points short of the 100 percent target.
“The literacy rate for 15 to 24 year olds was close to the 100 percent target at 94 percent in the year 2011. It is likely that the literacy rate target can be achieved by 2015,” Absalom said.
Despite impressive strides at the start of the decade, she said progress in reducing the number of children out of school has slackened considerably.
A high dropout rate remains a major impediment to universal primary education as an estimated 50 percent of out-of-school children of primary school age live in poverty stricken areas.
As with school enrolments, she noted regional variations in literacy are evident, with Kunene having the lowest (59.4 percent) literacy rate in 2011, followed by Omaheke (70.7 percent) and Kavango (76.4 percent).
The region with the highest literacy rate in 2011 was Khomas (97.4 percent), followed by Erongo (96.7 percent) and Karas (96.6 percent).
“This follows regional wealth trends, with the poorer regions having lower literacy rates and richer regions having higher literacy rates. One of the main thrusts of Vision 2030 is to transform Namibia into a high income, knowledge based economy. Such an economy would be expected to alleviate poverty, satisfy the labour market and ultimately support Namibia’s transition into an industrialised nation. These are our statistics in terms of literacy, according to the 2012 Education Management Information System (EMIS), which is the recent statistical data of the ministry,” elaborated Absalom.
According to her, Namibia has consistently shown commitment to improved education with innovative interventions such as the Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme, continued curriculum development, free primary education, the official reinstitution of early childhood development programmes, and infrastructural development.
However, some challenges persist such as poor school management, lack of motivation among many educators, poor physical learning environments, slow rollout of early childhood development, poverty, malnutrition and high levels of domestic violence.
In this regard, she explained that some of the interventions that could be considered to expedite MDG implementation are to improve school management structures at school, circuit, regional and national levels, strengthen procurement and distribution of textbooks especially to rural areas and continued improvement of physical learning environments.
Further, she said, interventions such as expediting the rollout of early childhood development centres, expanding the school feeding scheme to include all children, enacting the Child Care and Protection Bill, implementing and enforcing school codes of conduct for teachers and learners, and implementing the teenage pregnancy policy could also be reflected.
Key interventions to be considered for the remaining MDG period, she highlighted, are to increase the financial, material and human resources to implement legislation, policies and plans, ensure that gender-specific recommendations and significant action steps are included in the review of NDP 4, strengthen gender mainstreaming across different sectors, continue to expand nutritional programmes to support pregnant women and children, continue with awareness raising, and strengthening all interventions towards eradicating gender-based violence.