WINDHOEK - One of Namibia’s top performing schools, the privately owned Windhoek Gymnasium, is growing in leaps and bounds after it added a modern pre-primary school, comprising two floors worth N$15 million, to its premises.

The state-of-the-art pre-primary facility that opened its doors late last year was inaugurated yesterday by Dr David Namwandi, the Minister of Education. 

The new blocks comprise 11 classrooms, with each class having a teacher and an assistant and will accommodate 195 learners. The maximum number of learners per class is 24, while the monthly tuition fee for each child is N$1 750.

The founder of Windhoek Gymnasium, Colette Rieckert, said the  teachers for the pre-primary school have BA degrees with a pre-school qualification for junior level.

Most pre-primary schools countrywide, both private and public, normally only have a class or two.

Namwandi who was pleased by the school’s initiative in providing quality education to the Namibian child said Article 20 of the Constitution allows those with means to establish institutions to train as many Namibians as possible.

“We as government will remain indebted to our nations’ sons and daughters who are bringing the education system up to standard. Windhoek Gymnasium has been one of the top performing schools in the country pushing that bar. Therefore, I want teachers and school board members to commit to their duties because they are moulding the doctors, pilots, ministers and presidents of this nation,” he said.

Namwandi pledged that government would continue to support both public and private educational institutions in their quest to provide quality education.

“I am the minister of education in Namibia, not just for public schools. So I give my blessings to all education institutions,” he said. 

He also used the platform to urge the school management to ensure it implements government’s policy on 50/50 gender representation.

By Albertina Nakale