An Evaluation of Our Education System

We function in a society where the education system is constantly subject to both negative criticism and praise.

In an effort to evaluate the effectiveness of our education system, this piece seeks to compare Namibia’s academic system to that of the UK which is considered to be one of the world’s best currently.

The most important fact to take note of before any argument pertaining this subject matter is made is that Namibia is a developing country, unlike its counterpart (the UK), and would most likely lag behind in some particular aspects, hence my measure of effectiveness would be drawn from an angle of how best we are making use of the available resources at our disposal.

If one is to look at the general layout or structure of the UK and Namibian education systems, there is not a huge difference. In the UK, the system is divided into primary, secondary, further and tertiary education in which education is free and compulsory until age 16. Quite similarly, the Namibian layout is also divided in pre-primary, primary, secondary (ordinary/higher level) and tertiary with schooling being compulsory and free to age 16 as well. Hence productivity lives not in the structure but in the delivery.

The medium of instruction is the most potent factor causing our education system to lag behind. Currently, our education system only allows the Namibian child to be instructed in his/her vernacular until Grade 4. From there on, the pupil has to make a transition to making use of English as a classroom language.

Linguistic literature has well established that the language acquisition key progressively becomes weaker as one ages and it is believed that it is most active before 10 to 12 years old. I wholeheartedly believe that teaching indigenous languages separately as a first language would be sufficient enough for preservation adding to the fact that these languages are the media of communicating back home and at play.

My attention draws to this: If it is preservation that we are aspiring for, then why are some local languages excluded from being taken on higher level at secondary stage, for example, Khoekhoegowab?

In the UK, the medium of instruction from the nursery school is English with foreign languages like Spanish as a second language taught separately and not as a mode of communication in other subjects. This limits room for confusion in pupils as there is no transition later on as they progress and rather become experts in the language. Unlike the UK, the use of transition policy has led to disastrous academic results as reflected in our JSC/NSSC end year results.

All universities have a particular benchmark that needs to be met in order to enter tertiary education and English is high on the list. Given our already poor English academic background as a result of transitions made, many of the youth find it really difficult to get through to university. This is the point where our early education starts to manifest and many potential varsity youngsters end up on the streets unemployed despite having made numerous efforts to improve their subjects. In contrast, UK university requirements towards their prospective students is optimum as no language confusions were made from the onset.

Despite the major loopholes evident in our education system, it doesn’t translate into a complete mess in the system. There are quite some commendable features that cannot go unnoticed.

Basic computer literacy has become a key component each Namibian child’s academic life. Furthermore, one can see the great strides being made at tertiary level where some modules have shifted from the conventional way of physically lecturing interactions to online where a myriad of benefits like chat forums and ‘own pace learning’ are enjoyed. Given the resources at hand, I believe we are not lagging behind.

In essence, there is still a lot that needs to be done to perfect our education and the greatest way we could make a change is by making our views as the youth heard.

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