2017-05-17Staff Report 2 Albertina Nakale Windhoek-The Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture has strongly dismissed rumours that schools would only re-open for the second trimester on June 11. The ministry’s spokesperson Johanna Absalom yesterday dismissed such speculation as untrue. She said all school principals, teachers, parents and learners must take note that May 30 remains the first school day for the second trimester as per the approved 2017 school calendar, while hostels for boarding learners will open on May 29. “We understand the panic and confusion that this message has caused and would like to assure all learners, parents, guardians, teachers and all our stakeholders that the content is false and unfounded. Hostels open on the 29th of May 2017, while school hostel(s) personnel are expected to report for duty on the 26th of May 2017,” she explained. Confusion is being caused by a text message doing the rounds alleging the education minister has given a new directive that schools would only re-open on June 11. The text reads verbatim: “I, Katrina Hanse-Himarwa, MEAC (Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture), Act (2) of (2017), hereby giving information that the school with hostel are no more going to open on 29th May, the day has been postponed to 11 June 2017. This is because the GVT (government) is still struggling with costs and it will end up cutting too much from hostel schools i.e secondary schools. This information is available at our page on internet www.edu.com.na, an educational institution in Namibia.” Absalom says the “MEAC Act (2) of 2017” referred to in the text is fictional as it does not exist in Namibian legislation. She says the correct Act that guides the ministry is the Education Act (Act No. 16 of 2001). Further, Absalom points out that the website www.edu.com.na , indicated in the text, is fictional. The education ministry’s website is www.moe.gov.na. Upon investigation, New Era could not find any message besides an old memo by the ministry regarding the announcement for the admission of learners in 2017, which lapsed already at the beginning of this academic year. The Namibian calendar clearly shows that for the first trimester government schools started on January 11, and closed on April 26. It further shows that schools are due to re-open on May 30 and are to close for the second trimester on August 23, while on September 5 schools are again to re-open and close for the year on December 5, 2017. 2017-05-17Staff Report 2
