Elina-Ombili Shishaki
OMUTHIYA – Despite challenges faced by the education sector in Namibia, well determined teachers and school principals remain consistent and dedicated to their duties to ensure that learners are equipped with necessary skills.
The Oshikoto region held the launch of the 2020 academic year and in the same vein held its 2019 awards ceremony on Friday at Ekulo Senior Secondary School outside Omuthiya.
Prizes presented included general awards, best primary school awards, best Grade 12 National Senior Secondary Certificate (NSSC) schools, overall best public schools and best private schools.
The winners received various prizes including floating trophies, medals, certificates, external hard drive, tablets, portable Wi-Fi, 64 gigabyte memory sticks, power bank, pocketless Wi-Fi and a sheep.
Speaking at the handover of the awards, the Oshikoto education director Aletta Eises highly applauded all the winners and urged them to keep up the good communication to attain the educational goals.
She emphasised that excellent communication skills are vital to everyone in achieving the ideals of the ministry of education and attain the vision of the institution.
“We should lead by example through our conduct and not only by word. If you want learners to be kind to each other you have to speak kindly to them. Show them respect if you want them to respect each other. Be kind and consistent, be organised and prepared, exhibit leadership, be a good listener and be visionary,” said Eises.
She highlighted that there is a great need to reverse the perpetually poor performance that the region shows at Grade 12 level. In 2018 only 22% of learners qualified to university, while in 2019 the number of learners decreased to 20% who passed with 25 points in five subjects and D-symbol in English.
“Learners cannot obtain 35 points and U symbol in English, it is not acceptable. Let us join hands to find a way to help our learners pass English this year 2020. Let us invest in the future of our children,” stressed Eises
Organisations such Free Namibia Caterers, Dundee Precious Metals, Bank Windhoek , Omle Security Services, Ondangwa Airport Lodge, Landlocked, Star Comets, TUMA Trading, Waponyo Trading, Ekamuti Lodge and MTC were among the sponsors.
In the same vein, Oshigambo High School retained the first position for the overall best private schools award in Grade 12 NSSCO level with 71.2% and also in NSSH level with 85.6%, while Etosha Seondary School retained the first position as one of Namibia’s overall best government schools with a pass rate of 83.8% in Grade 8-12 NSSCH level followed by Otjikoto High School with 81.4%.
In the overall best Grade 1-7, Lano private school retained first place with 100% followed by Northcote private school with 99.6% and Chris Junior private school with 90.0%. Onamutene Combined School retained the first position as the overall best government primary school (Grade 1-7) with 96.4% followed by Francis Galton Primary School with 94.1% and Omuntele Primary School with 93.6%.
*Elina-Ombili Shishaki is an intern at the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology in Oshikoto region.