Obrein Simasiku

Having been the top-performing region in the Junior Secondary Certificate (JSC) examination for more than 10 consecutive years, the education directorate in Oshikoto has vowed to maintain such outstanding performance amid a curriculum change. Regional education director Aletta Eises said the focus has now been shifted to Grade 11 and 12 pupils, considering that the new education curriculum saw the scrapping of the JSC examination, with more emphasis placed on Grades 9, 11 and 12. 

“The region performed very well at Grade 10 level when rated nationally in order of performance, taking the number one spot for 10 years. At senior secondary level, the region never performed satisfactorily. 

The question is, is it the same learners who out-performed other regions in JSC examinations? What happens with the performance in NSSCO/H examinations? It is a cause of concern that needs to be researched well,” said Eises. In addition, Eises said the new curriculum is likely to bring an effect on performance. She implored learners and teachers to redouble their efforts. The Covid-19 pandemic, she said, is another issue of concern, which has seen teaching and learning disruptions. 

“The curriculum changes have also made some effects on the overall performance, hence a need to refocus, since grade 10 learners do not write external examinations anymore. The focus is now on Grade 11 and Grade 12. Amidst Covid-19, the performance of the region improved, compared to the 2019 performance. We are hard-hit by Covid-19, as learners and staff are continually getting infected with the virus,” she said. 

“We started already with psycho-social information sharing and motivation for the third term with learners and staff members. In this short time frame we reached, we visited 36 schools, which is a drop in the ocean from the 221 schools in the region.  The inspectors, as well as special education staff members, will continue with psycho-social information sharing and support to staff and learners.”