KATIMA MULILO – Students from the University of Namibia at Katima Mulilo say the learning environment at the campus is not conducive. Among others they say the campus has no proper ablution facilities particularly at the hostel where the bathrooms are reportedly in bad conditions, while the continuous running sewerage is a health hazard to students around the campus.

All this is contained in a five page petition addressed to Unam’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Kenneth Matengu. Matengu on Wednesday promised to handover the grievance letter to the relevant authorities. 

They also say “the library is no longer stable, because of threatening cracks around it, and the uncertainty of its foundation, students’ lives are at risk. Something should be done immeditelly.”

In the petition, the students further said that the campus lacks equipment which makes it difficult for them to do their work.

“We need all the sport equipment that should be used in physical education, teachers are trained for the better of the country and promotion of sport in schools but if they do not get proper training at Unam where will they get it? Moreover our science lab lacks equipment,” they said.

Students further charged that an institution of higher learning like Unam should have proper internet facilities, however, the Katima Mulilo campus reportedly has a very slow internet. “For three years now, the hostel does not have Wi-Fi. This means all 1600 students have to be scrambling for Wi-Fi that is limited in small places around the campus,” reads the petition.

The also stated that their safety around campus particularly at night is not guaranteed due to unavailability of lights, “which causes a threat to students who have late classes and those in the hostel are at risk of attack by wild animals.”