Osire
The management of Osire Secondary School has appealed to the government to introduce a school feeding programme at Osire refugee centre to minimize hunger-induced absenteeism among refugee learners.
Acting principal of the school, Christine Machina, last Friday said the reduction in food rations at the centre have led to high absenteeism among learners.
Since many refugees especially Angolans have left for their country of origin as there is no more war in their motherland, while those remaining will be locally integrated, the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has decided not to give the remaining Angolans any food rations. To compound matters the UNHCR last week announced it will shut down its operations in Namibia at the end of this month after 23 years of operations as it feels Namibia is adequately capacitated to manage the small refugee population.
UNHCR country representative Lawrence Mgbangson last week said they were closing the office in the country because Namibia’s refugee population has drastically reduced to below 5 000 and that the capacity of government to independently contain refugees has grown since 1992 when the Osire refugee camp was first set up in Otjozondjupa Region.
Acting school principal Machina appealed to the Namibian government to help establish a feeding scheme programme for secondary school learners, most of whom, according to her, have been orphaned by the wars in their countries and now have to fend for themselves.
For the younger ones at primary level the government has already stepped in with a school-feeding programme. Osire Primary School principal Mafred Tjirare said: “But there is still some apathy among learners because some are also commuting from farms which is about seven kilometres away. These are small children and imagine during winter and the rainy season – they endure hardships!” he said.
However, Tjirare said that with the introduction of the feeding programme at primary level there is a “tremendous improvement in attendance”.
He pointed out some other challenges especially among learners who arrive at the centre in the middle of the year due to political instability in their countries of origin, saying they normally perform poorly.
He said the pass rate is above 50 percent on average, but they want to achieve a pass rate of 90 percent.
School enrolment for primary school stands at 750 learners with 26 teachers of whom the majority are refugees from Burindi, DRC, Rwanda, Angola and Zimbabwe.
He also said teachers leaving for resettlement countries such as America and Canada negatively impact school performance as the schools then have to struggle to get teachers locally.
However, teachers’ accommodation which has been one of the major problems will soon be a thing of the past, as government is constructing quarters for teachers to cut their commuting distance from places such as Omatako, which is 32 kilometres away. In the meantime, government has also provided a vehicle for teachers who commute.
Both principals have appealed to any good Samaritans to donate food and clothing for learners.
They also lack adequate teaching and study materials such has books.
Machina further wants government to provide a vocational training centre for learners who finish Grade 12 but do not qualify for tertiary education.
Both schools are also in need of busses to transport learners to events in which they are required to participate with other schools especially in sports.
The University of Namibia (Unam) Legal Aid Clinic final year students under the Faculty of Law on Friday took the lead and donated food, study materials and clothing to Osire refugees especially the needy children.
The students’ idea to donate was triggered by the news that UNHCR operations are coming to an end. Nedbank sponsored the donated food for more than N$10 000 as part of the bank’s social justice programme.
The students are also busy with a project to promote self-sustainable development programmes for refugees.