Computers for rural school

IT was a day of great joy for the learners and teachers of a rural school in the Tsandi area of northern Namibia when they received twelve computers as a donation from NamWater, a state-owned company, last Friday.

NamWater usually refurbishes its older, but still functional computers for schools when buying new hardware for the company. This time it identified the Tsandi Junior Secondary School as recipient of the dozen PCs.”We only had one single computer at the school, which was used by the secretary,” said its headmaster, David Shipombo.”That computer was stolen in January this year, when thieves broke into the administration building.Only this month did we scrape enough money together to buy a new one for the secretary,” he added.Perched under huge trees, just a stone’s throw away from the ruins of the first mission station in the old part of the village, the school houses 247 learners and 11 teachers.Although a few new classrooms have been added, the older buildings, while kept clean, like the whole premises, are in desperate need of paint and some broken windowpanes need replacement.The well-behaved and neatly dressed learners gathered under a tree in the school yard and sang beautifully as a welcome and showed their traditional dancing skills, but informed the NamWater officials in a special song about the development needs of their school.”We need a fax machine, printer and more school furniture,” they sang.NamWater Corporate Communications Manager Johannes Shigweda said the donation of computers had the purpose to provide the learners with information technology (IT) skills and to remove any possible fear that they might have of not mastering computer skills.”The computer technician of our company will soon visit your school, set up the computers and show you the basics,” Shigweda told the learners.One of the teachers, Shemunyenge Hamukwaya, said the computers would prepare the learners for life once they leave Tsandi.”We teach from Grade 8 to 10 and many learners will change to senior secondary schools next year.If they learn how to handle a computer, they will not be regarded as backward, just because they come from a rural school,” Hamukwaya told The Namibian.The school’s head girl, Ndasilwohenda Shighwedha, echoed her sentiments.”We are overjoyed with this donation and not only the boys but the girls will be able to become computer literate.”This time it identified the Tsandi Junior Secondary School as recipient of the dozen PCs.”We only had one single computer at the school, which was used by the secretary,” said its headmaster, David Shipombo.”That computer was stolen in January this year, when thieves broke into the administration building.Only this month did we scrape enough money together to buy a new one for the secretary,” he added.Perched under huge trees, just a stone’s throw away from the ruins of the first mission station in the old part of the village, the school houses 247 learners and 11 teachers.Although a few new classrooms have been added, the older buildings, while kept clean, like the whole premises, are in desperate need of paint and some broken windowpanes need replacement.The well-behaved and neatly dressed learners gathered under a tree in the school yard and sang beautifully as a welcome and showed their traditional dancing skills, but informed the NamWater officials in a special song about the development needs of their school.”We need a fax machine, printer and more school furniture,” they sang.NamWater Corporate Communications Manager Johannes Shigweda said the donation of computers had the purpose to provide the learners with information technology (IT) skills and to remove any possible fear that they might have of not mastering computer skills.”The computer technician of our company will soon visit your school, set up the computers and show you the basics,” Shigweda told the learners.One of the teachers, Shemunyenge Hamukwaya, said the computers would prepare the learners for life once they leave Tsandi.”We teach from Grade 8 to 10 and many learners will change to senior secondary schools next year.If they learn how to handle a computer, they will not be regarded as backward, just because they come from a rural school,” Hamukwaya told The Namibian.The school’s head girl, Ndasilwohenda Shighwedha, echoed her sentiments.”We are overjoyed with this donation and not only the boys but the girls will be able to become computer literate.”