WINDHOEK – The Minister of Education Dr David Namwandi has warned school board members and parents who are considering turning public schools into private entities to desist such proposals.
“Let me make it very clear, government properties remain government properties. We have 1 700 public schools constructed by government to cater for Namibian children. Therefore, no parent or school board has jurisdiction to transform a public school to private. And if what I read in the newspaper is true (that state schools are considering privatisation) I warn them to desist. We are not going to negotiate on that one,” Namwandi warned.
New Era has been informed by parents of a number of state schools in Windhoek that they are planning to privatise to stop their sliding backwards. Pionierspark Primary School is until now the only school that has gone on record that it feels Free Universal Primary Education introduced early this year will downgrade its quality of education since parents no longer have to pay school development funds (SDFs) as had been the practice since independence.
As of January this year, learners at public schools, from pre-primary to grade seven, do not have to pay school fees or buy textbooks and stationery and are not obliged to contribute to SDFs anymore. The Ministry of Education increased funding to all government schools from N$118 to N$418 per learner per year to the estimated 460 000 learners at primary schools.
“The aim of free primary education was created to ease the burden on parents. These are the same parents who were complaining that schools were overcharging them and now they want to pay. We are not going to allow our schools to be turned into private schools. Whoever is doing that, it is illegal,” Namwandi said.
However, Deon Visser, chairperson of the school board at Pionierspark Primary School, yesterday said the school would go ahead to present the idea to government if they get 75 percent of parents’ consent. He said the idea to go private started in January when government decided that SDFs should no longer be applicable in public primary schools.
“We did long-term planning and found out that the educational standards of our school would go down. In order to sustain a good educational standard we need funding and the funds given by government are not enough. We want to keep the SDFs as cheap as possible for middle-class people. We want to ensure that our children get quality education,” Visser reasoned.
Visser said their school only receives N$320 000 per year from the government while their budget is N$2 million per annum. However, he explained that in order for them to privatise, they first have to apply to the government for permission and also get consent from all parents.
Visser elaborated that the school has done a survey on whether to proceed or not, adding that the survey must at least have 75 percent of parents’ consent for them to continue. The results of the survey are expected to be known on Friday, which will then determine the way forward.
Namibia is expected to meet its commitments to achieving Free Universal Primary Education, including the UNESCO Education for All and the UN Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Cabinet made available N$50 million for the initial phase of the implementation of Free Universal Primary Education, and the money will cater for close to 460 000 public school learners from the pre-primary level to Grade 7.
Story by Albertina Nakale