A Minister’s Blunders?

ALLOW me a space in your newspaper to express myself on an interview in a local newspaper with the Minister of Education, Nangolo Mbumba, on Monday, June 27, 2005.

Throughout the long interview, Mbumba made some impressive remarks about education. He reportedly indicated that the education system – Cambridge system in Namibia – aims to bring up young people to be knowledgeable, skilful and with a positive attitude in life.The Minister further was quoted as emphasising that “we ourselves dealing with educational issues – we have to read and provide leadership and above all we have to be committed to our country and to education of our children wherever they might find themselves”.Apart from that, the Minister has made some serious blunders about education.He was quoted as saying the Polytechnic of Namibia offers teachers training courses, and the material differences between International General Certificate for Secondary Education (IGCSE) and Higher International General Certificate for Secondary Education (HIGCSE) is that IGCSE is a syllabus for Grades 1 to 10.If the Minister of Education does not know which institution trains teachers or whether Grade 1 pupils receive certificates at the end of the academic year, how do we expect improvements in education? This is a national embarrassment if not African one.A Minister of Education with little or no knowledge of what is going on in education can lead to the collapse of the Ministry.Teachers need to know everything and need to be best in knowledge and skills, in their subject of specialisation as well as how to integrate other subject contents in their lessons, especially in language.On a theoretical and practical level in the classroom, a teacher has to disseminate knowledge to the learners and give them a chance to practice the skills acquired in real life e.g.planting trees after the natural science lesson about planting.I have also read with regret that within the next five to ten years, we cannot expect good results from Education.Is the Minister telling the nation that there will be no improvement or progress 25 years after Independence? Why do we need to keep an unproductive system at the expense of the poor then? The doctrine of education for all goes hand in hand with the provision of free education.There are children who are prevented from going to school or continuing with their education because parents cannot pay a school fee, a learner does not have a school uniform or has lost a book, or fails Grade 10 or 12 or falls pregnant.There are children known to me, after Independence, who have spent at least three years in the same Grade because parents do not have money to pay the school fee in order to get their children’s progress report.Some principals claim that they receive pressure from above that makes them force the parents to pay or else …This act can also be viewed as part of principal’s performance criteria for promotion purposes.To avoid that children stay out of school, the Minister has to make sure that every principal in government schools has a copy of the statement he made in the interview and warm them that no kid will be out of school due to financial difficulties.There are various problems that affect our children’s progress, namely the missing link between kindergartens and lower primary level, Grade 10 and 11, and 11 and 12.There are poor and vulnerable boys and girls who drop out in Grade 10 and their parents live on under U$1 a day and cannot raise money for Namcol.Lack of electricity, textbooks and other reference materials as well as teaching aids supplied in most rural schools are a threat to education.I think if the Minister of Education, Nangolo Mbumba, was quoted correctly by the Government newspaper, then he needs to surrender the position he is holding.Steven Mvula Via e-mailHe reportedly indicated that the education system – Cambridge system in Namibia – aims to bring up young people to be knowledgeable, skilful and with a positive attitude in life.The Minister further was quoted as emphasising that “we ourselves dealing with educational issues – we have to read and provide leadership and above all we have to be committed to our country and to education of our children wherever they might find themselves”.Apart from that, the Minister has made some serious blunders about education.He was quoted as saying the Polytechnic of Namibia offers teachers training courses, and the material differences between International General Certificate for Secondary Education (IGCSE) and Higher International General Certificate for Secondary Education (HIGCSE) is that IGCSE is a syllabus for Grades 1 to 10.If the Minister of Education does not know which institution trains teachers or whether Grade 1 pupils receive certificates at the end of the academic year, how do we expect improvements in education? This is a national embarrassment if not African one.A Minister of Education with little or no knowledge of what is going on in education can lead to the collapse of the Ministry.Teachers need to know everything and need to be best in knowledge and skills, in their subject of specialisation as well as how to integrate other subject contents in their lessons, especially in language.On a theoretical and practical level in the classroom, a teacher has to disseminate knowledge to the learners and give them a chance to practice the skills acquired in real life e.g.planting trees after the natural science lesson about planting.I have also read with regret that within the next five to ten years, we cannot expect good results from Education.Is the Minister telling the nation that there will be no improvement or progress 25 years after Independence? Why do we need to keep an unproductive system at the expense of the poor then? The doctrine of education for all goes hand in hand with the provision of free education.There are children who are prevented from going to school or continuing with their education because parents cannot pay a school fee, a learner does not have a school uniform or has lost a book, or fails Grade 10 or 12 or falls pregnant.There are children known to me, after Independence, who have spent at least three years in the same Grade because parents do not have money to pay the school fee in order to get their children’s progress report.Some principals claim that they receive pressure from above that makes them force the parents to pay or else …This act can also be viewed as part of principal’s performance criteria for promotion purposes.To avoid that children stay out of school, the Minister has to make sure that every principal in government schools has a copy of the statement he made in the interview and warm them that no kid will be out of school due to financial difficulties.There are various problems that affect our children’s progress, namely the missing link between kindergartens and lower primary level, Grade 10 and 11, and 11 and 12.There are poor and vulnerable boys and girls who drop out in Grade 10 and their parents live on under U$1 a day and cannot raise money for Namcol.Lack of electricity, textbooks and other reference materials as well as teaching aids supplied in most rural schools are a threat to education.I think if the Minister of Education, Nangolo Mbumba, was quoted correctly by the Government newspaper, then he needs to surrender the position he is holding.Steven Mvula Via e-mail