Hileni Mwandingi
ONDEROMBAPA – What was supposed to be a great beginning to an academic year at Dr Fischer Primary School turned out sad after the school’s classroom block was destroyed by fire last week Thursday.
A block consisting of four classrooms and a library caught fire in the wee hours of Thursday, destroying everything that was inside including chairs, tables and books.
According to the school principal Ismael Kazondanga, he was called to rush to school around 04h00 by those that discovered the fire. Upon reaching the school, they mobilised more people from around the school and started fighting the flames with hose pipes, which at a time were only at the library and one classroom, but grew stronger and soon spread to the rest of the classrooms in the said building.
Kazondanga said they came up with the strategy to contain the fire from spreading to other buildings on the premises and luckily succeeded.
By the time the fire brigade that was called from Gobabis arrived at the scene, the fire was under control although it has already caused extensive damage to the block.
Kazondanga added that all the school exercise books that the parents bought for their kids were being kept in that building, which means they were all destroyed, including textbooks and school bags.
“For the first time in history, we technically forced the parents to buy nine exercise books for each child, and we also insisted on them buying school bags. This incident now means that the school should find money to buy books, replace bags and the textbooks, which are the most expensive ones,” he said.
He further said the teachers lost all their teaching materials, as this was the only place where they kept everything, including syllabuses that outline what should be taught.
He appealed to good Samaritans to come on board and lend a helping hand, as government cannot manage on their own, especially under the current economic hardships.
The cause of the fire remains unknown, although there are speculations that it could have resulted from a faulty connection.
The school’s maintenance officer Anton Tjiueza, however, said they did not notice any major electrical faults prior to this incident.
Contacted for comment, the Omaheke regional head for the ministry of works Kristof Kandowa confirmed that they did not receive any complaints regarding electrical maintenance from the school and described the incident as an unfortunate one that has affected not only the education fraternity but the entire government.
He added that as far as maintenance is concerned, due to funding, his ministry relies mostly on the complaints that they receive from line ministries and when they are called, and it is only then do they send out officials to evaluate the reported problem.
Dr Fischer Primary School, which is situated in the Aminuis constituency, was established in 1979, and it has currently enrolled 452 children from grade 1-7.