ONGWEDIVA – To address the shortage of classrooms, education minister Anna Nghipondoka on Friday announced that Oshakati South is amongst the areas where a new school is earmarked for this financial year.

“Already yesterday, I sent another letter to the minister of finance to say that for this financial year, we still have other projects to be implemented, of which Oshakati South and Onamutayi hostel are on board,” the minister revealed.

She was speaking at a meeting with the Oshana education directorate leadership.

The meeting, which was also attended by learners, analysed 2023 academic results to improve the 2024 academic performance.

Nghipondoka said infrastructure development, overcrowded classrooms and pre-graders not attending school remain a concern for the ministry.

She said her ministry will continue improving the enrolment of the pre-graders and grade ones, having already seen a 60% improvement with the construction of 1 000 classrooms.

These classes were constructed during the last financial year, 90 of which were constructed in Oshana.

The deputy director of education in Oshana, Hilma Nuunyango-George, expressed gratitude for the construction of the classrooms.

The region is often faced with a shortage of classrooms to accommodate pre-grade and grade one learners.

This year, the directorate was forced to retain pre-graders in private kindergartens, as there was no space to accommodate all the learners who applied for pre-grade.

The affected learners were to be absorbed in grade one in 2025, hence the new school will come in handy.

“As a directorate, I’m very delighted with the minister – the construction of an extra school at Oshakati, where we have more learners who need school.  The construction is going to help us, as a directorate, because it is going to provide more classrooms to accommodate more learners,” she said.

*Nuusita Ashipala is an information officer at the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology in Oshana region.