Some schools in the Omusati region are temporarily closed due to flooding, following heavy rains over the past two weeks.
Some school grounds have been flooded while others have been cut off by water, leaving pupils and teachers with no access.
Oshikuku councillor Mathew Gabriel said affected schools include the Itamaro and Petrus Nangolo Iilonga Combined Schools, as well as the Emvula Junior Secondary School. “I don’t have all the relevant information, but I heard that the Roads Authority (RA) will intervene,” he indicated.
According to Petrus Nangolo Iilonga principal John Sheyavali, his school is surrounded by water, and teachers and learners have to wade through the water to access the school.
“Learning at our school is suspended. Our learners were sent home until the situation normalises, or when we observe that the water levels have subsided,” he said.
Sheyavali added that keeping the school open would be dangerous to the learners, as some walk as far as 10 kilometres to school.
“We will observe until Monday. But I am afraid if it continues to rain, the suspension will be indefinite, unless other measures are taken,” he observed. Sheyavali said the school has informed the RA to restore the access road, and they responded positively.
“They will soon start working on the road that was cut off,” he added.
Although learners, parents, councillors and teachers have confirmed that they have not been able to access their schools since last week, Omusati education director Benny Eiseb denied the closure of schools, saying those are all rumours.
“If you got all the information about the closure of schools in our region from all these people, why are you asking me? You followed a wrong procedure; you were supposed to get information from our office first,” said Eiseb.
“Our office did not receive such reports,” he noted.
“Some people only talk for as long as they talk with the intention of tarnishing others. If there were closed schools in our region, we could have heard about it,” he charged.
– vkaapanda@nepc.com.na