Early childhood education key: MP

A DEBATE on the education system is set to kick off in the National Assembly today.

The House is scheduled to debate the bad performance of last year’s final examinations for Grade 10 and Grade 12. Last week, Congress of Democrats (CoD) Vice President Nora Schimming-Chase tabled a motion urging fellow MPs to debate what she called the “crisis in the education system” and to find solutions to managing future dropouts.”The root cause of Namibia’s education crisis – and therefore the priority if we want to improve – was the decision of the Swapo Government to ignore early childhood education (after Independence) …Government abdicated the responsibility of laying the proper foundation and left it to non-governmental organisations and finally to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, a Ministry with a brief that is not education,” the CoD leader criticised.When building a house one had to draw up plans, have them approved and then build the house by first laying a foundation, she said.”Early childhood development education should be the cornerstone of our education system.”Schimming-Chase told MPs that scientists had proven that a child’s learning ability was at its best until the age of ten and that stimulation actually changed the internal structure of a child’s brain.”The more stimulation, the larger the number of neuronal connections in brain cells, the absence of specific stimulations leads to the gradual disappearance of unused neuron connections (in the brain),” the MP said.Taking her argument further, she said the majority of Namibia’s population was poor and, as a result, most of the country’s toddlers had no educational toys at home and might not even see a computer in their modest home environment.”It is the duty of Government to exercise the role of the leveller, to decrease the imbalance, indeed to make early childhood development education the cornerstone of our educational system,” Schimming-Chase demanded.She quoted from the latest Unesco report on the state of children in Namibia, which said that many Namibian children were not able to read with comprehension after six years at school.The report ranked Namibian children at the bottom of the education ladder in southern Africa.The CoD politician proposed that the Ministry of Education should look at successful schools and their curricula in order to develop appropriate curricula with qualified and experienced teachers.”Why must we spend millions of dollars on consultants?” she asked.Last week, Congress of Democrats (CoD) Vice President Nora Schimming-Chase tabled a motion urging fellow MPs to debate what she called the “crisis in the education system” and to find solutions to managing future dropouts.”The root cause of Namibia’s education crisis – and therefore the priority if we want to improve – was the decision of the Swapo Government to ignore early childhood education (after Independence) …Government abdicated the responsibility of laying the proper foundation and left it to non-governmental organisations and finally to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, a Ministry with a brief that is not education,” the CoD leader criticised.When building a house one had to draw up plans, have them approved and then build the house by first laying a foundation, she said.”Early childhood development education should be the cornerstone of our education system.”Schimming-Chase told MPs that scientists had proven that a child’s learning ability was at its best until the age of ten and that stimulation actually changed the internal structure of a child’s brain.”The more stimulation, the larger the number of neuronal connections in brain cells, the absence of specific stimulations leads to the gradual disappearance of unused neuron connections (in the brain),” the MP said.Taking her argument further, she said the majority of Namibia’s population was poor and, as a result, most of the country’s toddlers had no educational toys at home and might not even see a computer in their modest home environment.”It is the duty of Government to exercise the role of the leveller, to decrease the imbalance, indeed to make early childhood development education the cornerstone of our educational system,” Schimming-Chase demanded.She quoted from the latest Unesco report on the state of children in Namibia, which said that many Namibian children were not able to read with comprehension after six years at school.The report ranked Namibian children at the bottom of the education ladder in southern Africa.The CoD politician proposed that the Ministry of Education should look at successful schools and their curricula in order to develop appropriate curricula with qualified and experienced teachers.”Why must we spend millions of dollars on consultants?” she asked.