Windhoek
Some University of Namibia (Unam) students see the need for government to engage them through parliament when in need of student interns.
The students engaged members of parliament to learn more about how parliament works when they recently visited the Tintenpalast. The tour was organised by the SRC.
Kalimbwe says they want the government to help young people with the skills and knowledge required to succeed.
“Educational as it may be, we don’t just want to be engaging in visits to parliament or any other place, to take pictures and go back to our campuses without having achieved anything,” says Joseph Kalimbwe, a member of Unam’s Student Representative Council (SRC).
“We sat with other members of the student council to draft a proposal to the parliament on how best we feel they can engage with the students by providing them with the internships and jobs needed to thrive in this ever-changing world,” Kalimbwe observed.
He adds that there is an urgent need for government to engage university students – even in various ministries – when there is need for interns.
Kalimbwe and Michelle Munyandaki, another SRC member, were quite delighted by what they learned on the tour. “As student leaders, it gives us some pride to have had a chance to visit Parliament,” Kalimbwe said.
“We were tasked to make crucial decisions on behalf of students and sometimes we take things for granted and think we can achieve our objectives without having any strong parliamentary experience to lean on,” Munyandaki remarked.
The purpose of the tour was to familiarise students with the goings on in the corridors of power and how decisions makers conduct themselves and to help the students understand parliamentary rules and orders.
The students, who have their own student parliament on the campus, expressed delight in the knowledge they acquired. Munyanduki, who currently leads Unam’s student parliament as its speaker, expressed the need for similar engagement in future.