Faustinus Shikukutu

Namibia is a few days away from celebrating its 32nd birthday, the critical question is, why is it that a child’s experience of education in a free Namibia is to be taught in kambashus (zinc building), is this the type of infrastructure the struggle for independence fought for? It is not right or acceptable that 32 years after independence school infrastructure are deteriorating at the level of the Bantu education era. 

While I acknowledge that there has been progress made since the end of oppression augmenting access to education as well as other aspects, frailties have been identified caused by universal education grant, such as repeatedly failing to reach its own targets with respect to infrastructure and facilities.

 The Harambee Prosperity Plan II especially its social progression pillar aims to ensure improved quality of life for all Namibians. Goal four of the social progression pillar talks about improving access to quality education and sports by improving and expanding education infrastructure. 

Notwithstanding that dream, the situation at many primary schools especially around Rundu paints a different picture where many schools are resorting to the building of kambashus to ease the problem of overcrowding. It is embarrassing to see kambashus at an urban school where one expects to see modern buildings envisioned by Vision 2030 and other developmental policies.

The right to quality education includes having a school where learners are safe to learn and have the adequate infrastructure and facilities to do so, but for many learners, it remains a pipe dream. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights makes it clear that every child has the right to free basic education so that poverty and lack of money should not be a barrier to schooling. One has to applaud the government for introducing the universal education grants and for allocating a big chunk of the budget to education in order to accommodate socio-economic disadvantaged children. Despite the initiative, shortage of classrooms caused by access and poor infrastructure undermines the goal of quality education. 

Reports show substandard infrastructure and lack of basic services continue to be barriers to quality education. Infrastructural development across public schools in Namibia especially in the rural areas, do not receive sufficient attention from government and other critical stakeholders. There is strong evidence that high-quality infrastructure facilitates better instruction, improves learner outcomes among other benefits. 

The design of a classroom affects learning through three interrelated factors namely: naturalness (e.g. light, air quality), stimulation (e.g. complexity, colour), and individualisation (e.g. flexibility of the learning space). One wonders whether kambashus constructed at schools meet these interrelated factors. Schools in marginalised areas in Namibia face the biggest investment needs in the country, meaning that learners attending these schools are doubly disadvantaged. 

These learners come mainly from low income and rural families to attend poorly equipped schools. Overcrowded classrooms or kambashus are suboptimal for teaching and learning. Poor infrastructure examples comprise dilapidated classrooms, pit latrines and other damaged school infrastructure. These infrastructure problems in schools not only affect academic performance but also infringe on the rights to education, the rights to safety and health of learners as well as of teachers. In these circumstances, it is not surprising that educational outcomes remain unsatisfactory.

Therefore, the implication is that the lack of proper infrastructure might be a barrier that might lead to the realisation of education as a fundamental constitutional right. 

For Namibia to comply with both its own constitutional and international human rights obligations with respect to education, a major change is needed urgently, especially from the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture`s goal of quality by mobilising more money for infrastructure development in communities across the countries.