Achievements, Shortcomings In The Namibian Education Sector

By: KASHINDI AUSIKU

EDUCATION is sometimes described as 'the key to unlocking human potential and creating opportunity'.

With this in mind, it is imperative to look at what we have

achieved in this field in the last 15 years of our political

Independence.

The Government deserves credit for making education a top

priority in terms of budget allocations for the last 15 years.

 

This is despite the fact that such huge spending did not yield

the envisaged returns.

 

One of the Government's key achievements in education is the

promulgation of the Education Act of 2001 (Act No 16 of 2001).

 

The Act provides for the provision of accessible, equitable,

qualitative and democratic national education service and other

things.

 

Government must also be applauded for building new schools.

 

Hundreds of pupils have gained access to formal education, while

those who can't find space have been able to continue their studies

through Namcol.

 

The establishment of the Education Management and Information

System (EMIS) is also a positive step as statistics are very

crucial and must be documented.

 

Furthermore through some education structures such as School

Boards, SRCs, Curriculum Committees/Panels, citizens have been

accorded the opportunity to participate democratically in the

country's education process.

 

The quality of participation in these bodies varies from region

to region and from school to school.

 

However, there are still bodies that require significant support

as they have no capacity to make significant contribution in

education.

 

SYMPTOMS OF FAILURES It is sad that despite the huge allocation

of funds to education Namibia has low levels of functional literacy

and high drop outs.

 

In addition the education and training offered has failed to

prepare a large number of youths to meet the skills needed in the

labour market.

 

The English language proficiency is another issue that has not

improved much particularly in the rural schools.

 

This contributes much to the high failure rate and hence fewer

learners make it to institutions of higher learning.

 

The Namibian Constitution is vague on the language policy and

surprisingly the Education Act of 2001 is also silent on the

policy.

 

FAILING SCHOOLS There are a number of schools that can be

classified as 'failing schools' as they have not improved much

since Independence.

 

Schools that used to produce good results prior to Independence

continue to do so while a large percentage of those which used to

produce poor results have not changed at all.

 

In most cases poor administration, serious lack of initiatives

and commitment from the personnel in charge are a recipe of poor

performance at the 'failing schools'.

 

The Government could have introduced performance contracts for

all managers in education in order to make people accountable and

thereby improve performance at all levels of education.

 

Evolution of the Education ministries since independence Since

1990 the education ministries have changed names and perhaps in the

process have lost focus.

 

The major change was the formation of the ministries of Basic

Education and Higher Education in 1995.

 

Despite all these changes the question remains- What did the

nation benefit from this evolution? One could comfortably say very

little indeed as no significant improvements on quality education

have been achieved.

 

The end result was a huge bill to pay for salaries and perks and

the creation of unnecessary bureaucracy.

 

As we reflect on our achievements and failure maybe it would be

in the best interest of the country to merge the two ministries

again and save money.

 

Pre-primary education is also the foundation of basic education

and it was an error of judgement by those who made a decision to

leave it in the hands of the community.

 

It would be the right move to return it to formal education in

order to address the high failure rate at secondary

level.

 

The Government deserves credit for making education a top priority

in terms of budget allocations for the last 15 years.This is

despite the fact that such huge spending did not yield the

envisaged returns.One of the Government's key achievements in

education is the promulgation of the Education Act of 2001 (Act No

16 of 2001).The Act provides for the provision of accessible,

equitable, qualitative and democratic national education service

and other things.Government must also be applauded for building new

schools.Hundreds of pupils have gained access to formal education,

while those who can't find space have been able to continue their

studies through Namcol.The establishment of the Education

Management and Information System (EMIS) is also a positive step as

statistics are very crucial and must be documented.Furthermore

through some education structures such as School Boards, SRCs,

Curriculum Committees/Panels, citizens have been accorded the

opportunity to participate democratically in the country's

education process.The quality of participation in these bodies

varies from region to region and from school to school.However,

there are still bodies that require significant support as they

have no capacity to make significant contribution in

education.SYMPTOMS OF FAILURES It is sad that despite the huge

allocation of funds to education Namibia has low levels of

functional literacy and high drop outs.In addition the education

and training offered has failed to prepare a large number of youths

to meet the skills needed in the labour market.The English language

proficiency is another issue that has not improved much

particularly in the rural schools.This contributes much to the high

failure rate and hence fewer learners make it to institutions of

higher learning.The Namibian Constitution is vague on the language

policy and surprisingly the Education Act of 2001 is also silent on

the policy. FAILING SCHOOLS There are a number of schools that can

be classified as 'failing schools' as they have not improved much

since Independence.Schools that used to produce good results prior

to Independence continue to do so while a large percentage of those

which used to produce poor results have not changed at all.In most

cases poor administration, serious lack of initiatives and

commitment from the personnel in charge are a recipe of poor

performance at the 'failing schools'.The Government could have

introduced performance contracts for all managers in education in

order to make people accountable and thereby improve performance at

all levels of education.Evolution of the Education ministries since

independence Since 1990 the education ministries have changed names

and perhaps in the process have lost focus.The major change was the

formation of the ministries of Basic Education and Higher Education

in 1995.Despite all these changes the question remains- What did

the nation benefit from this evolution? One could comfortably say

very little indeed as no significant improvements on quality

education have been achieved.The end result was a huge bill to pay

for salaries and perks and the creation of unnecessary

bureaucracy.As we reflect on our achievements and failure maybe it

would be in the best interest of the country to merge the two

ministries again and save money.Pre-primary education is also the

foundation of basic education and it was an error of judgement by

those who made a decision to leave it in the hands of the

community.It would be the right move to return it to formal

education in order to address the high failure rate at secondary

level.

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