Editorial: The Key To The Fate Of The Nation

A SOUND educational system must surely form the basis of any successful nation.Namibia can never progress beyond a certain point of development unless our economy is driven by a well-educated workforce.

The Ministry of Education has tried to minimise the negative implications of what remains an essentially disappointing outcome of the just-released Grade 10 results. We can fluff and fake the figures; move the pass mark up or down; but nothing will hide the fact that our students overall continue to under-perform, and a majority of those who subsequently enter the economy are not qualified for the jobs they manage to get.English as the official language remains one of the most critical factors in our educational under-performance.Not only are students leaving schools without basic competency in this language, but it is compounded by the fact that they are often taught by those who themselves have scant knowledge of the subject.Those who manage to get the necessary marks to enter tertiary institutions are also not necessarily benefiting from the Ministry’s tendency to paint a better picture by shifting the pass mark.They in turn are ill equipped for further studies at universities and technicons, where they may flounder and fail.We would like to be able to say that we are making progress, even slowly and surely, in getting our education system to the point where it can serve the youth and the nation as a whole.But as most people in the private sector can attest, it is difficult to find and employ Namibians competent in even the most basic of skills.There are many things we could do to improve, primarily the English language skills of teachers and students alike, and reading as well as spoken English remain vital for pupils to do well in other subjects, such as history.Reading remains absolutely crucial, and this is impossible for many students countrywide who do not have access to libraries to further their skills in this language.Promotion of a reading culture must be an absolute priority, for without it, literacy rates will drop, and this has been proved in countries, even the US, where television has largely replaced this craft.We do feel that Government, the country as a whole in fact, should mobilise all their efforts, and a majority of resources, to improve schooling, teaching facilities as well as access to study aids, including libraries and Internet and research centres, in order to give students a healthier and more well-rounded educational system.The Minister of Education in particular, has a huge task ahead if the situation is to improve, and the budget should more properly reflect our educational priorities in 2006.Other organisations, institutions, NGOs, should actively assist towards the goals of more properly equipping our pupils for an employable future.Best Wishes To All AS the year 2005 draws to a close, we extend our best wishes for a safe and peaceful year-end to all our readers, advertisers, distributors, contributors and supporters.For some, including the staff of this newspaper, the year has been a long and gruelling one.And so it is with mixed feelings that we inform the public of our closure for a week.This edition will be the last one for 2005 and our next edition will appear on January 3 2006.We say mixed feelings because, although it is not habitual for newspapers to close on anything other than public holidays, it is a very quiet time of the year which gives over-extended staff who are not able to take long leave, at least the chance of a break.We have endeavoured to do our best in the past year, and will redouble our efforts to serve our public as well, if not better, in the future.In saying this, we continue to welcome feedback from our readers and advertisers and we will do our best to accommodate suggestions.Finally, we thank everyone for their support, which has contributed to making The Namibian the biggest-selling newspaper in the country’s history.We can fluff and fake the figures; move the pass mark up or down; but nothing will hide the fact that our students overall continue to under-perform, and a majority of those who subsequently enter the economy are not qualified for the jobs they manage to get.English as the official language remains one of the most critical factors in our educational under-performance.Not only are students leaving schools without basic competency in this language, but it is compounded by the fact that they are often taught by those who themselves have scant knowledge of the subject.Those who manage to get the necessary marks to enter tertiary institutions are also not necessarily benefiting from the Ministry’s tendency to paint a better picture by shifting the pass mark.They in turn are ill equipped for further studies at universities and technicons, where they may flounder and fail.We would like to be able to say that we are making progress, even slowly and surely, in getting our education system to the point where it can serve the youth and the nation as a whole.But as most people in the private sector can attest, it is difficult to find and employ Namibians competent in even the most basic of skills.There are many things we could do to improve, primarily the English language skills of teachers and students alike, and reading as well as spoken English remain vital for pupils to do well in other subjects, such as history.Reading remains absolutely crucial, and this is impossible for many students countrywide who do not have access to libraries to further their skills in this language.Promotion of a reading culture must be an absolute priority, for without it, literacy rates will drop, and this has been proved in countries, even the US, where television has largely replaced this craft.We do feel that Government, the country as a whole in fact, should mobilise all their efforts, and a majority of resources, to improve schooling, teaching facilities as well as access to study aids, including libraries and Internet and research centres, in order to give students a healthier and more well-rounded educational system.The Minister of Education in particular, has a huge task ahead if the situation is to improve, and the budget should more properly reflect our educational priorities in 2006.Other organisations, institutions, NGOs, should actively assist towards the goals of more properly equipping our pupils for an employable future.Best Wishes To All AS the year 2005 draws to a close, we extend our best wishes for a safe and peaceful year-end to all our readers, advertisers, distributors, contributors and supporters.For some, including the staff of this newspaper, the year has been a long and gruelling one.And so it is with mixed feelings that we inform the public of our closure for a week.This edition will be the last one for 2005 and our next edition will appear on January 3 2006.We say mixed feelings because, although it is not habitual for newspapers to close on anything other than public holidays, it is a very quiet time of the year which gives over-extended staff who are not able to take long leave, at least the chance of a break.We have endeavoured to do our best in the past year, and will redouble our efforts to serve our public as well, if not better, in the future.In saying this, we continue to welcome feedback from our readers and advertisers and we will do our best to accommodate suggestions.Finally, we thank everyone for their support, which has contributed to making The Namibian the biggest-selling newspaper in the country’s history.