ONAMISHU – Oshikoto is grappling with a severe shortage of hostels and only ten schools out of 221 in the region have boarding facilities, according to education director Aletta Eises.
In addition, she said, an amount of about N$1.95 billion is needed to address the lack of education infrastructure, including construction of hostels, classrooms and ablution facilities. Eises made these remarks at the handover of educational material by Siemens South Africa through NamPower to the Onamishu cluster. The material include 30 laptops, full kit school uniforms for 643 learners, a digital printer and science equipment.
“Everyone should play their role and contribute the little each, towards the success of education. Thus as I alluded above, those remain the region’s biggest challenges. We have 221 schools but only 10 have hostels, so this is a tough task for the directorate to fully implement the standard education,” stressed Eises.
The shortage of hostel facilities has a huge impact on the new education curriculum and has resulted in pupils renting houses and staying with strangers. Teenage pregnancies, alcohol and drug abuse have also been attributed to the lack of hostels as learners are unsupervised.
“So this gesture from Siemens is highly appreciated because this investment is in the right place. An investment that will have an impact on many of our future leaders. I would also want to applaud the circuit inspector and school principal for their efforts in pooling resources to advance the interests of the future generations.”
Furthermore, Eises informed pupils that having no food and clothing should not deter them from learning, but rather it should be an encouragement to learn and excel in order to help others, including tackling poverty.
In addition, she told parents to take centre stage in protecting and guiding their children as the school closes on Friday.
Lucia Hiveluah of the NamPower Foundation in a speech read on her behalf by Kondjeni Nghitevelekwa said the donation was part of Siemens’ social corporate responsibility.