Parents in northern Namibia are concerned about their average-performing children being transferred to poor-performing schools because they are not bright enough.

A parent, who spoke on condition of anonymity, indicated that some northern schools tend to select brighter learners when they go for interviews, leaving the average ones without admissions.

“This is very painful for us, parents, because our children are asked to write interview tests, which we are not happy with already and still end up not getting admissions. 

Learners should be admitted on a first come first served basis to avoid low-performing learners from being kept aside,” she said.

“My question is, what do they look at when they are admitting? Because some of us, our children are not that dumb to be failing entry tests like this. Where are we going to take these learners who did not get a chance?” questioned another parent.

 Most learners who do not make it through entry tests are then transferred to poor-performing schools. 

Faustina Namutenya Caley, the deputy minister of education, stated that learners are not supposed to be classified in the process of admission.

“If teachers or school principals are to admit learners for high grades, it should not be done from a perception of favouritism and smartness. Learners should be combined so that they can learn from each other,” she told New Era on inquiry.

Caley indicated the ministry is aware of many learners without grade 8 admissions, and they are busy putting measures in place to find placements for all these learners.

 “We are going to place these learners ourselves, and we are not going to place smart or average learners aside; we are going to make sure they are all mixed up in all types of schools. We are also going to do further inspections to see how they made admissions and placement of learners,” she said.

- taimihaihambo2000@gmail.com 

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