OMAKANGE – The Ismael Kamati Tjimuhiva Combined School, in the Onesi Circuit of the Omusati Region, has consistently managed to excel in the Junior Secondary Certificate (JSC) examinations despite the harsh environment and archaic operational structure within which the school operates.
The school which was established in 1993 has been using candles for lighting until 2011, when it received solar panels to electrify the Grade 10 classrooms. The school accomodates 364 of its 584 learner population in the hostel. “The school is always among the top ten best performing schools in the Omusati region and in the top five in the Onesi circuit,” said a proud principal, Dina Tjimuhiva, whose husband the school is named after. Ismael Kamati Tjimuhiva is the headman of the village of Omakange where the school is situated. Last year the school received a bigger solar panel from the Ministry of Education to light up the entire school, however the pannel cannot provide the capacity needed and currently only caters for Grades 8,9 and 10 classrooms. As a result the rest of the learners do not have evening study sessions. “The solar batteries have reached the end of their life span, hence only four classrooms have light. It is an expensive exercise to get the other eight batteries running, because each battery costs around N$1300 and the school cannot afford that,” said Tjimuhiva.
Another major challenge is accomodation, and currently 60 learners in the lower primary phase are risiding at the headman’s house. Tjimuhiva said the school is in need of a proper hostel as the current hostel is not up to standard. According to a ministerial policy the existing hostel is supposed to accommodate only 98 boys and 98 girls or 196 boarders, but currently accomodates a total 364 children. “The school is left with no choice, but to accommodate a large number because of the [circumstances of most of the learners] we have at the school.
Most children at the school are from the marginalised Himba community. The has also recruited learners from farms in the area, while some children came to seek admission themselves. You just can’t send them back,” said the prinicipal. Water and sanitation is also a major problem in the hostel. The school only has two tanks that are supplied with water from the only borehole at Omakange. There are also no proper bathrooms at the school, because those that were build by the community are currently being used as dormitories for Grade 10 learners. The learners bath in small enclosures of metal sheeting and have to fetch drinking and bathing water from the tanks every day. The kitchen staff also use firewood to prepare meals, while there are not enough cooking pots as a result meals are difficult to prepare and are not always on time, which interferes with teaching schedules at the school. Teachers’ accomodation at the school is another challenge.
At the moment, the school only has an small, old caravan that was donated by the Ministry of Works and Transport in 1996. However, the the caravan can only accommodate one teacher. The principal said it is a huge concern, because teachers do not stay long at the school as a result of the many deprivations and difficult circumstances facing the rural school and often learners are left stranded until replacement teachers can be found. “Regardless of our daily challenges, our school will continue to excel academically,” said the hopeful Tjimuhiva.