ONGWEDIVA – Mweshipandeka High School in Ongwediva has withheld the school reports of learners who did not pay the N$150 school fees, stoking anger among parents and guardians who question the logic of not informing parents about the outstanding fees before the end of term, and given that Grade 12 learners need their mid-term reports to apply for provisional admission at tertiary institutions. The deadline to submit applications at some of the institutions is due end of this month while schools only reopen on September 3, said parents.
A spokesperson at the Oshana Regional Directorate confirmed to New Era that it is aware of the withholding of school reports, which it has condemned, and said the directorate has instructed Mweshipandeka High School principal Josef Nangobe to release the reports to the learners. Nangobe however told New Era that he was not aware of the directive from the regional directorate.
Nangobe said the school had asked parents well ahead of time at a parents’ meeting in July to pay the school development fund fees on time and parents with no means to pay should have made arrangements with the school. “And they can still come to my office. They have money to come to the newspaper but they do not have money to come to my office. We are not afraid of being in the newspaper, after all it is their democratic right to do so [run to the media],” said Nangobe.
Oshana Regional Education Director Dute Shinyemba said she had already instructed the Mweshipandeka High School to release the learners’ school reports. “We are aware of the situation and we have instructed the school inspector to instruct the school principal to give them their reports. It is against the policy of the ministry to withhold the learners’ reports. No child should be punished for not contributing school fees,” said Shinyemba.
The parents claim that a number of learners, some accompanied by their parents, went to collect their school reports last Wednesday from Mweshipandeka High School, but only to be informed that some of them would not be given the reports as they failed to pay school fees. “It is shocking, because he [the principal] could have at least notified us on time so that we could bring the money along. Now the school has closed. What are we supposed to do?” asked one of the parents.
A teacher who spoke to New Era on condition of anonymity alleged that at least 50 percent of the learners had not received their reports. The teacher said the school principal’s action at one point resulted in a squabble in the staff room among teachers, some of whom protested the reports not being released. The principal is alleged to have threatened the teachers who wanted to go against his wishes with ‘warning letters’, he claiming that the school did not have the ink to print the reports. “But the school has ink and paper. After all he could have asked for help from the regional directorate [of education], if we were really in need. Some of the learners have really passed well and we felt that we cannot gamble with their future. These children will come back next term and we are going to be with them until November – we could have made a plan to have them pay before they leave. Of course some learners were given money for school development funds by their parents but decided to spend it. We are not condoning such behaviour but this is just a bad time to punish the children,” said the teacher.
Shinyemba said the school is not “closed” even if it is school holidays, thus parents and learners may still go and collect their reports.
By Helvy Shaanika