Schools have once again pleaded with parents to be more actively involved in their children’s school career and maintain constant communication with the school to keep track of their children’s academic performances.
The principal of Rocky Crest Primary School in Windhoek, Sylvia Kangumine, said parents and guardians tend to be less involved in the academic pursuits of their children, and only try to do follow-ups towards the end of the year.
“Some parents are usually quiet about a lot of things – and at the end of the academic year, their children fail – but what have you been, as a parent, doing the whole year? Your involvement will be highly appreciated, and this is an open door policy school,” said Kangumine during a briefing with parents at the school yesterday.
She added: “We will never chase you away; feel free to either call or make an appointment with the office – come and address issues about your child”.
Namibian schools officially commenced the 2022 academic year after the education ministry decided that schools start on 10 January 2022.
Executive director in the ministry of education last week said the first semester of school ends on 10 June, with the second semester commencing on 26 July.
This arrangement will allow teachers to significantly cover the curriculum, and it provides ample time for revision.
The two-semester school calendar for the 2022 academic year was introduced by the Ministry of Education with the support of the National Advisory Council on Education.
The two terms comprise 195 school days (99 days in the first term and 96 days in the second one).
She said parents should also make sure children have masks before they come to school.
She further urged parents to provide their children with insight into the pandemic, so that they are well aware of the dangers associated with it in order to protect themselves and those around them.
Teachers at several schools are advising parents to have frequent deliberations with their children on bullying.
The involvement of parents in their children’s lives also entails properly planning for the academic year, which means applying for a grade is something that should be done in advance, a plea by Hermann Gmeiner Primary School principal Maureen Gottlieb, which seems to have fallen on deaf ears.
“As you can see, there are parents who are queuing outside, looking for placements, a usual occurrence. We always remind parents towards the end of the year about securing a space, but they keep on repeating the same mistake,” said Gottlieb.
Notably, numerous parents queued up at the school to look for spaces for their children, making it the first hectic day for the institution.
Gottlieb said they started with full capacity because they want to see how many learners are back during the first week of the school, although Covid-19 is a challenge.
She added the school in the 2021 academic year accommodated 941 learners, consisting of three classes per grade, but they try to slowly expand due to the demand from parents.
“It looks like this year, we will reach the 1 000 mark,” said Gottlieb, adding that the pre-primary school, which started with 26, now has about 32 learners getting foundation education.
“Last year, we had 37 learners at pre-primary level. That’s the demand. We cannot send away learners, and that’s the big challenge we are facing.
Gottlieb stated: “As a school, we are providing stationery; we are always prepared, and stationery seems to be the biggest obstacle to schools, especially when it is not provided on time.”