In addition, it was revealed this week that the Ministry of Basic Education had exhausted its travel and subsistence (S&T) budget within the first eight months of the 2004-2005 financial year, with the result that foreign trips have been suspended (unless paid for by donors), and perhaps more crucially, workshops and training programmes, for the remainder of this financial year.

Last week it was reported that an official in the said Ministry had been arrested and charged with the theft of nearly N$100 000, which had been earmarked for academic fees and allowances for some 40 Namibians studying in Zimbabwe.

Blow after blow appears to be falling on this Ministry, and to all intents and purposes, these all appear to be largely self-inflicted.

Minister of Basic Education John Mutorwa had a lot to say on the question of duties, accountability and responsibility when he spoke at the official announcement of Rusten Mogane's appointment as the new Chief Administrator of the Namibia Sport Commission (NSC) this week, and perhaps he should apply his words to the Ministry he himself heads.

Mutorwa was almost dismissive when approached on the crucial issue of hundreds of pupils who could not get placements at schools throughout the country at the start of the academic year, and said it was "nothing new".

He referred to the Ministry's difficulties with predicting the number of Grade 1 pupils who would enrol each year, as statisticians made projections based on previous enrolments.

We find this hard to understand, given that our census should be of invaluable assistance on matters such as these.

So while his Ministry can hardly come up with acceptable excuses for its failures in this regard, it must also be pointed out that parents themselves must shoulder part of the blame for consistently waking up too late and starting to find placement for their children at the last minute.

As responsible parents, they should be embarking on this process far earlier, and they, too, need to take some of the blame for the start-of-year chaos.

Some schools advertised their placement programmes well in advance but parents stayed away, only to make a lot of noise and to threaten principals when schools reopened.

But the Ministry cannot be let off the hook.

Not only are full-time results increasingly disappointing, but they seem to be accompanied by a deterioration in the quality of teaching as well as facilities to promote a solid and workable educational environment.

More and more school-leavers are unable to get jobs, and not only is this because of the lack of job opportunities, but also the fact that so many of them are poorly qualified and lack even the most basic of skills that one would normally expect of a matriculant.

Undoubtedly exacerbating the above is the fact that around 80 per cent of the Ministry's budget goes to salaries and S&Ts, and not on improving the standards at schools or the training of teachers.

Financial management is problematic, with the Ministry exhausting its travel and subsistence budget months before the end of the financial year.

The Ministry of Basic Education has one of the most formidable tasks in this country.

There is little doubt that schooling a nation is a massive priority, and one that needs to take the lion's share of the budget in order to do effectively.

So it is no mean feat to get it right and it is not an enviable task that the Minister has on his hands.

However, he simply has to be up to the challenge if education in general, and ultimately the economy of our country and well-being of citizens, is to be improved across the board.

He needs to have an iron hand in meeting these challenges head-on and cleaning up his Ministry's act.

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