Okafitu Kauvale
The Ministry of Mines and Energy will electrify seven schools in Omusati Region in the coming financial year.
The Deputy Minister made the remarks during her visit at the school on Friday to consider the school for electrification.
While the 2015/16 budget for electrification remains constrained, the Deputy Minister of Mines and Energy, Kornelia Shilunga urged the Omusati Regional Council and the school administration to prioritise the electrification of Ouvale Combined School in the 2016/2017 financial year.
To connect the school to the Omuvelo waKasamane electricity grid will cost N$150,000.
The government was previously scheduled to electrify 12 Omusati schools through the rural electrification scheme during the current financial year (2014/2015). It would cost N$4,5 million to electrify the seven identified schools this year. The school principal at Ouvale, Josefina Shipopyeni, said her school is in dire need of electricity. She said it would enable teachers to integrate Information Communication Technology (ICT) in their classrooms.
Detailing the challenges facing the school, Shipopyeni pinpointed the need for a laboratory, library, and access to fax and internet, as some of the major challenges that need to addressed.
According to Shipopyeni the school has grown tremendously from 57 learners and one teacher at its inception in 2002 to 532 learners and 17 teachers today.
She indicated that the school is also in need of an administration block and additional chairs and tables. “We need an administration block, because we are currently operating from a storeroom as we do not have an office and our learners are using their laps to jot down their notes.”
Parents at Ouvale have also shown commitment to ensuring their children have access to education by constructing four classrooms over the past four years.
The Ouvale Combined School, which is less than 1 km from the Omuvelo waKasamane borderpost, accommodates the Oshimbadja-speaking children from neighbouring Angola.
The deputy minister related that her ministry is determined to continue with the rural electrification project, despite the huge finances involved.
“We believe that providing electricity is a means of empowering those communities,” Shilunga said.
Shilunga further explained that her ministry is tasked to explore and introduce other forms of energy – such as solar power – to communities who are located far from the national electricity grid.
The school also received a computer, laptop, printer and several items through pledges and donations last week.