By Frederick Philander
OKAHANDJA
He sees the position of principals at Namibian schools as an honour, a duty and a privilege in these times of changes of improvement to the education system.
This view was expressed on Friday morning by well-known academic, Dr Joseph Diescho, who spoke at a two-day conference at a lodge just outside Okahandja.
More than 150 principals, deputy principals and senior school managers from around the country attended the event that was primarily sponsored by the Finnish Embassy in Namibia.
“In the past we have been told many falsehoods, inter alia, that Africans had no education, despite the fact that humanity started and was nurtured in Africa. There still exists this misconception that we do not know how to educate our people,” Dr Diescho said.
According to him, no proper education can take place without national characteristics of any education system.
“How they can accuse us of being ignorant of education, baffles me, looking at what the African people have traditionally achieved; our forebears could make fire without matches, they kept food longer without refrigerators and they could kill a big beast with just a small weapon. Yet, presently African education is condemned to the departments of anthropology at universities,” he charged.
In Diescho’s opinion the three pillars on which education rests are knowledge, understanding and wisdom.
“The current tendency in education is that a child has to go to school to learn and know something. Unfortunately, when a child is sent to school to learn the computer, the teachers in most cases do not have one or it is broken down in the Namibian school system,” he said.
Judgment of education by principals is very critical for the improvement of the system.
“Vision 2030 is not a solution for the country, but an idea and a dream. There are many other countries with such official visions, compelled by the United Nations. Presently we do not define ideology as far as what we want from education, because we are too preoccupied with the freedom we attained 17 years ago. Principals need to start listening to their own inner voices when dealing with education. It is really time now for them to take responsibility,” he suggested encouragingly.
At the same occasion, the deputy minister of Education, Dr Becky Ndjoze-Ojo, praised the efforts by the Namibian Principals’ Association (NAP) for having brought most of the country’s principals together.
“Schools and teachers must not wait for the Ministry of Education to draw them into the 21st century. They must draw on their own resources to catapult themselves into the world of technology so as to benefit from the positive results that this shift promises,” said Ndjoze-Ojo on behalf of her ministry.
“It is true that not all teachers entering the profession are cut out to be teachers, and learner dropouts will remain with us as long as socioeconomic conditions in the country do not change dramatically. I further wish to express the hope that this conference is the start of vigorous networking among schools through school principal offices.
“Against this background, I am of the opinion that principals are in a position to change the negative notions the public seems to have about the state of education in our schools,” she said. The deputy minister also urged principals to make their schools vibrant, innovating child-centred places.
“You should build up a reputation for excellence in teaching and motivate your learners to perform to the best of their ability. You are the ones who should build a structure of relationships in your schools so that all children will learn according to their abilities, because the most important function of educational leadership is to create good schools,” she said.