Hileni Mwandingi
GOBABIS – The Namibian College of Open Learning (Namcol) last week opened its N$7.3 million centre at Gobabis in the Omaheke region.
The sub-regional campus, which is named after early Namibian nationalist leader Chief Hosea Kutako, was officially opened by Omaheke governor Pijoo Nganate.
The centre consists of, among others, four classroom blocks and administration building. Nganate commended Namcol for playing a significant role in the lives of many Namibians through the provision of learning opportunities to upgrade levels of general education, as well as professional and vocational skills for over 20 years.
“This new facility provides a much improved learning environment for students of the Omaheke region, who make up about 3 000 of the total Namcol learners population. I can imagine how excited tutors and students alike are as you move into it. I am sure we all agree that modern facilities improve not only the college’s physical environment but also its learning culture,” he said.
Nganate further applauded Namcol for naming the campus after chief Kutako, who fiercely fought the war of resistance in 1904, saying this gesture will ensure that his legacy lives on.
Namcol director Heroldt Murangi said the inauguration of the new centre is an addition to other facilities constructed in different towns across the country and lives up to the institution’s motto of ‘taking education to the people’. He added that infrastructural development is a key objective in the institution; thus, they have acquired land in different towns such as Walvis Bay, Opuwo and Oranjemund for future development to take services closer to the people.
Murangi further applauded the government, saying the construction of Namcol facilities are consistent with its policy declaration of education as the first national priority and goal of ensuring education for all.
“Let me also commend our government for demonstrating its stated objective of building public institutions with the aim to increase national human resources capacity that will lead the fight against hunger, poverty, ignorance, illiteracy, economic marginalisation, high unemployment rates and under-development,” he said.