THERE is an undersupply of teachers at senior secondary level, education executive director Sanet Steenkamp has said. 

“The demand and supply are determined by the number of teachers produced by the institutions of higher learning per field of study. The number of institutions of higher learning that produced lower primary teachers had increased in the country, hence the oversupply of teachers in this phase,” Steenkamp said. 

Consequently, a majority of qualified lower primary teachers struggle to secure employment. 

The technocrat and seasoned teacher made these remarks during a recent interview with New Era. 

“Teachers are appointed where there is a need, and according to the field they specialised in,” she said.

Steenkamp further said there is a serious shortage of qualified teachers for some local languages such as Afrikaans, Khoe-Khoegowab and Setswana. 

According to the ministry’s 15th day report of 2023, there are about 31 970 teachers nationwide serving 864 700 pupils at 2002 schools.

This year, 16 new schools were constructed while 723 new teaching positions were advertised in the 14 regions. 

December last year, more than 3 000 qualified unemployed teachers in the two Kavango regions staged a peaceful protest on the streets of Rundu demanding employment from the government.

In their petition, they claimed that between 2017 and 2023, approximately 8 251 qualified teachers had no jobs in Namibia. 

They said the number was expected to increase with an estimated addition of over
3 000 graduate teachers countrywide. 

Speaking on behalf of unemployed graduates, Saima Nekwaya suggested that the government must do away with interviews and stick to placement of teachers to help ease the burden. 

She suggested that placement should be done at regional level and should be done according to the year of accomplishment.

“The number of institutions training junior primary teachers should be reduced or they should reduce the number of intakes, looking at the fact that the demand for teachers is not high,” Nekwaya said. 

Another unemployed graduate Simaneka Shilongo said she has gone seven years without a job since completing her studies. 

“This is discouraging, years are going without a job, how do I encourage young ones to study hard, if I myself don’t not have a job, but calling myself a qualified teacher,” Shilongo asked.