ONGWEDIVA - Paulus Haufiku Mwandingi Junior Secondary School in Eenhana town, Ohangwena region has no school library nor science laboratory.

The school that officially opened its gates in 2018, was built with no library, no sports field, no school hall and no laboratory.

According to the school principal Foibe Nghishongwa, a storeroom turned library, with a limited number of books, caters for 372 learners.

“The learners do not even sit and read in the library but just go and borrow books to read in the classrooms. There are no chairs or tables because the space is very small,” said Nghishongwa.

Nghishongwa further highlighted that the limited number of books make it hard for learners to do the necessary reading and is pleading to good Samaritans to help the school by donating books.

“It is a new school; we are still struggling to put it up to standard. We also have no hostel,” said Nghishongwa.

She maintained that the school has now turned one of its classrooms into a laboratory to help learners with their science projects.

“The classroom being used is not designed in a form of a laboratory, it is just a normal class. We are carrying out some experiments but not all. We give our learners science projects based on the little resources we have,” said Nghishongwa.

According to one of the language teachers at the school, Ndinelao David, the learners’ reading skills are bad as they have low understanding and problem-solving skills. “The lack of library books really limits learners from improving their reading skills. They are willing to read but library space is limited,” said David.

She highlighted that even as a teacher, she is not able to improve her subject knowledge through reading printed material.

“It hinders learner-centred learning as they do not have any source of information to expand their classroom knowledge apart from what they are taught in class,” said David.