Paulina Moses

About 250 learners in Oshikoto region will be returning to school equipped with the necessary stationery, months after classes were temporarily interupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Tunacor Fisheries Limited Company handed over the donations to the Oshikoto Regional Council this week. Ndapanda Pohamba, the sales and marketing manager for Tunacor, said their company is aware of the negative effects that the coronavirus has on the country’s economy as many parents lost their jobs. “School is about to start. Because of Covid-19, many kids did not go to school and especially in rural areas where it was hard to study through e-learning. As they now return to school, not all of them have stationery to do their work and our aim is to donate stationery to get the ball going. We want learners to speed up their learning,” Pohamba said. These donations were received on behalf of the council by Chief Regional Officer Frans Enkali and the acting chairperson of the council Sakeus Nangula. 

“The donation will assist our learners especially those with not enough resources. Some parents are struggling in the rural areas. We are blessed to have Tunacor to assist us with helping our learners,” said Nangula. Enkali applauded the gesture, adding that besides donations, corporate social responsibility should incorporate more active approaches to ensure that the learners grasp the importance of education. 
“Most of the time, corporate companies only donate but neglect the element of motivating kids to study,” he said. “If you donate stationery, please go to the learners and tell them why it is important for them to study.”
 Besides the school stationery, the fishing company also donated 400 boxes of fish and 400 dry food parcels. Beneficiaries of these donations are the households who did not benefit from the emergency income grant.