Zebaldt Ngaruka
EPUKIRO – The recent one-day education stakeholders meeting held in Gobabis drew mixed reactions from various stakeholders in the region who believe they must redouble their efforts to avert another shambolic performance.
The gathering was aimed at paving the way forward, following the Omaheke region’s poor performance in the Namibia Senior Secondary Certificate Ordinary (NSSC) and Advanced Subsidiary (AS) level results for the 2023 academic year. Among those New Era spoke to is the San community representative Desiree Masheshe, who said it was ideal for the regional leadership to host such meetings as it will iron out some of the issues contributed to poor results.
“It was a great initiative from the regional leadership as this is not only educational matters but for the region as a whole,” said Masheshe who is also the regional planner of the marginalised communities. Masheshe argued that the problem started from the junior levels as many learners are transferred to the next grade.
“These transferred kids contribute to poor performance compared to promoted ones. Therefore, this trend must be revised, and a better solution must be put in place,” she explained amongst others. Mokganedi Tlhabanello High School principal Uakuzako Urbanus Kavari seconded the idea of the regional leadership meeting but opined that one day is not enough considering the stakeholders involved in education.
“It is good that our leadership is worried about the poor performance of our region and wants to improve the situation,” Kavari said.
The principal’s view is that this meeting could have started at the grassroots level to have all the inputs. Board chairperson of the region’s top performer Epukiro Post 3 Secondary School, Elia Nkrumah Matundu added that it is early in the year, schools have their calendars, and programmes where they hold meetings with stakeholders to discuss matters of that nature at the constituency level.
“They could have waited for school board reports from different schools rather than a quick meeting. This is a huge problem, and it requires ample time to deal with,” explained Matundu.
Henry Katuuo, the principal of Rietquelle Secondary School told this publication that he learned a lot from the meeting as his school is amongst the poor performers in the region.
“We engaged with different stakeholders, and we hope it bears fruit and improves the situation,” Katuuo explained.
The Hoveka Traditional Authority senior councillor Vekondja Tjikuzu said the meeting was necessary despite short notice.
“We were not aware of this, but we also share the same concerns like our regional leadership. Our chief, Turimuro Hoveka is the person who has an interest in the education of a Namibian child as he donated money, computers, and materials to different schools in Eiseb and Epukiro,” lamented Tjikuzu. He called on retired teachers and other experts to volunteer and assist schools even by giving extra classes to improve the learners’ performance.
Otjombinde councillor Wenzel Kavaka said his constituency had earlier meetings on the education crisis before the regional one.
“We went there with a full overview of all stakeholders in Otjombinde and shared our findings, and learned from stakeholders at the Gobabis meeting,” explained Kavaka.
He recommended that extra classes are needed for the learners to improve their performance.