Learning Support is defined as a team, consisting of teachers ensuring the subject/class teacher offers needed support to learners while working in consultation and collaboration with them.
All schools must keep in mind that from the first day of applying for admission to registration and orientation, every stakeholder must be aware they are working towards promotion.
Every student, learner or candidate wants to pass their academic year/grade at the end of the academic year.
Henceforth, every teacher, educator, principal and lecturer wants to see their students/learners progress to the next level or grade after each academic year.
The year 2022 will not be an exception to these customs inherent in academic culture. Therefore, the National Promotional Policy for Basic Education should be the departure of all schools so that all planning of the school activities focus on how to best achieve promotional outcomes as outlined in the National Promotional Policy Guide in primary and secondary schools in Namibia.
Therefore, first, I would like to depart with the awareness and implementation required in the Resilience Plan of the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture (2021).
A resilience plan is a holistic approach to ensuring education continues safely and successfully, but also to guide schools on how to bounce back should challenges arise or persist.
This is significant to remember that school should continue successfully and safely. This, according to the resilience plan, should be done by adhering to the following aspects of the plan:
Schools are required to do a diagnostic assessment; develop a school-based academic recovery plan (SBARP); have an Integrated School Health and Safety Programme (ISHSP); set targets for teachers and learners based on diagnosis assessment outcomes; set up learning support programmes and Design Individual Education Plan (IEP) for repeaters, condoned and transferred learners.
There is a flow chart developed for teachers, school managers and other stakeholders to follow and ensure schools operate within the Resilience Plan of the ministry of education as set out. This is not only to achieve successful outcomes but to save lives, assist repeaters to achieve required competencies, and to reach the goals of education: equity, access and quality education. Schools should adopt the steps and adhere to the flow chart as prescribed in the Resilience Plan of the ministry of education.
The guide above is to help educators plan the school year within the Resilience Plan of the ministry, which is meant to curb the spread of Covid-19 whilst achieving safety and successful basic education.
It is also meant to inform the parents to compel schools to implement the resilience plan of the ministry within their community to ensure their children are not only successful in schools but also safe and are assisted to achieve the basic competencies required by the ministry of education.
The 10 elements of the Resilience Plan of the ministry of education that we ought to know and look out if they exist in our schools are: the rationalised syllabuses; the diagnostic assessment; the school-based academic recovery plan; mode of attendance; assessment (formative and summative assessment); learning support; information and communication technology; integrated school health and safety program; standard operating procedure, social accountability and school governance.
Educators should implement the resilience plan of the ministry in schools to close the gap in the learning contents brought by Covid-19.
We acknowledge that most of our learners missed out on the subject contents due to the rationalised syllabuses implemented in the 2020 and 2021 academic years.
Therefore, the revised promotional policy requires that learners who demonstrate poor acquisition of the required competencies from their previous grade must be supported through the implementation of the resilience plan.
Let us promote education for all to achieve the goals of education: equity, access and quality education for our children.
*KS Muhembo is an educator.