WINDHOEK – The Namibia National Students Organisation (Nanso) has condemned proposals by some school boards to turn public primary schools into private schools, saying such actions could turn out to be discriminatory and would in no way benefit children whose parents are of a lower economic status.
“If you cannot afford to pay the amount they are charging, then you would be forced to move your child to another school. This would result in a situation where only the children of the elite would attend such schools,” Nanso president, Timotheus Angala, remarked yesterday. A number of governing boards of various public primary schools in Windhoek were planning to privatise those schools, on the grounds that the introduction of free universal primary school education would reduce the amount of money they receive from the government and would not be sufficient to maintain the level of education that the schools are accustomed to providing.
Following the introduction of free universal primary education parents are no longer required to pay school fees, contributions to school development funds or to buy textbooks and stationery, which has been the practice since independence. Moreover, the ministry has budgeted N$162 million for the exercise, and the money will be disbursed on a per capita basis to cater for 386 675 learners enrolled in public primary schools this year alone countrywide. The spending translates into N$418 per child per year and that is the basis for proposals to privatise schools, which proponents believe would create a shortfall in the existing levels of funding.
Angala says the primary schools considering privatisation have been charging exorbitant fees for the school development fund (SDF), while they are also subsidised by the government. “Charging N$1 000 per year for the SDF on top of the government subsidy is unacceptable. These are the real enemies of progress. They don’t want to see government delivering to the expectations of the nation. Some of these schools have inflated school fees to make tea for the principals and to offer swimming classes, which are unnecessary. How does that benefit a child’s basic education?” he asked.
The Minister of Education Dr David Namwandi has on numerous occasions warned school board members and parents who are considering turning public schools into private entities to desist from that notion. “Let me make it very clear, government properties remain government properties. We have 1 700 public schools constructed by government to cater for Namibian children. Therefore, no parent or school board has jurisdiction to transform a public school to private. And if what I read in the newspapers is true (that state schools are considering privatisation) I warn them to desist. We are not going to negotiate on that one,” Namwandi has warned.
The Nanso leadership condemned the call for privatisation, saying it is counterproductive and therefore government must reject such proposals. Angala also said no government school is for rent, hence the option of hiring public facilities would also not work. “In fact, government needs to build more schools to cater for an increasing number of learners in some areas, especially Windhoek. We are calling upon the Ministry of Education to ensure that state-owned secondary schools adhere to the regulations on SDF, which says that the highest a school can charge for the SDF is N$500 per year,” he noted.
Nanso is also of the view that if the nation is of the opinion that the government subsidy to schools is inadequate and likely to compromise the quality of education, then the education sector should sit around the table and discuss the way forward.
Some of the schools say the government subsidy would only amount to N$20 000 per year, while their annual budget, which is sustained from parents’ contributions, runs to as much as N$2 million a year.
Free primary education is meant to allow Namibia to meet its commitment to provide free universal primary education, including the Unesco Education for All initiative and the UN Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
Cabinet made available N$50 million for the initial phase of the implementation of free universal primary education, and the money will cater for close to 460 000 public school learners from the pre-primary level to Grade 7.