Charles Tjatindi
Eiseb post 10-Special advisor to Omaheke Governor Pijoo Nganate has called on businesses and ordinary members of the community to do all they can to assist government in the delivery of quality education.
Nganate, who was speaking during a donation handing over ceremony here on Thursday, said it was high time Namibians realise that the burden of providing quality education to the country’s future leaders cannot be carried by government alone.
The ceremony was convened to allow for the official handing over of 60 mattresses to two underprivileged community school hostels in the Omaheke Region; Eiseb Primary School and Vergenoeg Primary School.
Eiseb Primary is located some 350km northeast of Gobabis in the Otjombinde Constituency, while Vergenoeg Primary School is in the Kalahari Constituency.
Nganate said there is a common misconception that education is strictly the responsibility of government, and citizens ought to sit back and simply keep receiving such service from government.
He said this was not only far from the truth, but also a sign of weak interest among the region’s population to improve the quality of education.
“Education can never be the responsibility of a single entity. We all need to come on board – in the little ways we can – and pledge our support to the cause of educating our children,” he said.
He told those in attendance that there is a lot of wealth in the Omaheke Region, but such wealth have done little to assist the provision of quality teaching and learning environment.
“We are only as strong as our weakest links, as such we need to work together to uplift the state of education by contributing either financially or in kind to this very important sector,” he said.
Nganate noted that times when local communities would beg bowl-in-hand for handouts are long gone, as everyone is now expected to bring some form of contribution to the table to move the country forward.
“People would always rely on pleading for assistance and never think of what they too can contribute to their own situation. It is high time that we drop such mentality and meet government halfway,” he said.
He used the platform to also pledge the donation of five mattresses to each school.
Omaheke has been one of the poorly performing regions in Grade 12 results over the past few years. Many believe a perceived lack of interest in education matters by businesses and community members is one of the contributing factor to the state of affairs.