ONGWEDIVA - In its quest to uplift the marginalised communities, the Division of the Marginalised Communities within the Office of the Vice-President has schooled about 765 students through its Education Support Programme at various local tertiary institutions since 2005.

To extend the programme further, the division in 2018 also introduced the programme at primary and secondary school levels.

The programme was introduced as a tool to provide financial, moral and psychological support to learners and students from the marginalised communities at all education levels.

Since its introduction 12 years ago, the Permanent Secretary in the Office of the President, Erastus Mbumba Haitengela said the programme has served as a vehicle in the marginalised communities’ quest towards educational prosperity and overall achievement of the socio economic integration goal.

“This program has proven to be a medium of hope towards personal career development ambitions and prosperity of our citizens by ensuring an increase in representation and eventual integration in the socio-economic mainstream,” Haitengela said.

The beneficiaries get tuition and hostel fees, stipends for toiletries, transport fees, books, stationeries and other support services.

The division is thus extending a call to the marginalised communities to apply for educational support for the 2019 academic year.

The support is restricted to current grade 12 learners and learners intending to apply to any vocational training centres or those intending to improve their grade 10 and 12 grades with the Namibian College of Open Learning (Namcol).
Prospective beneficiaries are encouraged to apply through the Regional Development Planners in their respective regions.
He said no direct applications to the head office will be entertained. Applicants are encouraged to attach all the required documents.

Haitengela said because of the meagre resources at their disposal, the division will only be able to cater for 10 beneficiaries per region.