2008-06-17Staff Report 2 "Windhoek Namibia will get 60 Science, Mathematics and Information Technology volunteer teachers from Nigeria, who will be posted to rural areas at the end of this month. Deputy Minister of Education, Dr Becky Ndjoze-Ojo, said the 60 teachers were going to be posted to remote areas, which are shunned by Namibian teachers. Responding to questions from opposition members of Parliament in the National Assembly on Thursday, Ndjoze-Ojo said contrary to reports that Namibia would get 300 teachers from the west African nation, only 60 teachers had volunteered to work in Namibia for two years. This follows a bilateral agreement between the two countries. Ndjoze-Ojo said the teachers are fully paid for by the Nigerian government, adding that Namibia was only expected to cater for accommodation and medical expenses to agreed specifications. ""The Ministry of Education has already forwarded a request to the Nigerian High Commissioner for about 60 volunteer teachers to come and assist in the areas of Science, Mathematics and Information and Communication Technology at senior secondary level in rural areas where Namibian Science and Maths teachers are reluctant to go,"" Ndjoze-Ojo said. She added that the Nigerian teachers, who are expected end of this month, ""will not replace nor will they take the place of Namibian teachers, but will rather be working alongside the Namibian teachers to assist them in strengthening the teaching of these subjects"". Namibia is battling an acute shortage of teachers especially in Science and Mathematics subjects. The country has had to rely on teachers from neighbouring countries such as South Africa and Zimbabwe. Namibia currently has an agreement with Zimbabwe whereby school leavers are trained in Zimbabwe for three years. Ndjoze-Ojo also said there are a lot of Namibian teachers who are unemployed as they are reluctant to apply for teaching posts available at schools in remote and rural areas. ""The ministry is thus forced to employ Grade 12 graduates to teach the learners,"" Ndjoze-Ojo said. She urged unemployed teachers to approach regional education offices, where they can be deployed to any school once there was a vacancy. - The Southern Times " 2008-06-17Staff Report 2
