Education Doesn’t Need Politics
I AM not a RDP [Rally for Democracy and Progress] supporter but am a concerned Namibian with a high regard for education for Namibian children.
As I read the article about a closed school for much needed education in the country, I cannot help wondering if our leaders are really thinking about the future of our nation or are just thinking about building a name for themselves in the political arena.
Who in their right mind, whether educated or not, would close an educational institution and deprive children of the most needed valuable tool to become future leaders, doctors, social workers, police, lawyers, entrepreneurs, businessmen and women? They do not even need to understand what politics is all about but just want to gain the knowledge which was deprived us by the white people who ruled for a century in our land.
When those children are in classrooms, Hidipo Hamutenya is not written on the walls, the blackboard does not have his face on it and I can assure everyone in the country that the ground where that school is does not have his soul on it.
I would like to believe that the system of teaching is the same all over the country, whether you are in Oranjemund or Luderitz, Caprivi or Kavango.
Education has no colour - it is like money - and knowledge is power.
Some of us could not go to school because the white people’s system did not allow us to. It was not our choice and when we did, we were only allowed up to a lower level. Please think about that.
The reason why Namibia has a high number of poorly educated citizens is because of people like those who are blocking the needy of their right to education. Politics belong to the politicians and should not interfere with the learners.
Some of us are blessed by being able to travel the world to see and experience democracy at large. Trust me, those children are not going to grow trusting and believing in those who blocked and deprived them of education, but may learn to form different views of them.
On the other hand, if we can show and demonstrate unity and respect the value of their education, they will grow to respect democracy at large. Africa is suffering because we are our own destroyers and refuse to respect each other.
Veronica Hamutoko
Via the website