Education buckles

THE reduction in the education budget will see a dramatic decrease in spending per secondary school pupil from a high of N$500 over recent years to N$250 in the 2017/18 financial year.

The education ministry yesterday said that at primary school level, where the ministry previously allocated N$350 per pupil, only N$250 will be spent per pupil through the new budget.

Some Windhoek schools claimed that it has been decided that security guards would no longer be deployed at many schools and that the ratio of textbooks per pupil, with the Harambee Prosperity Plan (HPP) targeting a 1:1 ration, would now be 1:4 across the board.

The schools also claimed that cleaning and other materials would no longer be provided by government. Khomas education director Gerard Vries could not be reached for comment to confirm this, while education director of Omaheke Peka Semba yesterday said that because of the budget cuts, regional school administrations have been told to cut down on their water and electricity bills.

“Of course, the security at schools will also be affected. For example, some schools will only have one security guard while others will not have any security at all, depending on the need,” he said.

Education permanent secretary Sanet Steenkamp yesterday said that “we have had to make tough decisions” after the ministry’s 2017/18 budget was cut.

Steenkamp said the situation necessitated a compromise on the desired textbook ratio per pupil of 1:1 to 1:2. She, however, denied that the textbook ratio has gone to 1:4, as claimed by some schools. With regards to the security guards at schools, Steenkamp said in the past most schools would contract their own security guards, but that many of these contracts have now ended.

Minister of education Katrina Hanse-Himarwa in her budget speech last week announced that the ministry’s operational budget has been reduced from N$11 799 616 000 in 2016/17 to N$11 390 981 000 in the 2017/18.

Hanse-Himarwa said that the budget cuts would also negatively impact the implementation of the ICT programme at schools, especially the roll-out of computers, and the maintenance of aging equipment in schools, educational institutions and offices as well as ICT skills training of educators and staff.

She said provision of physical infrastructure and renovation of existing facilities to address space shortages and to create a conducive environment for learning, coupled with understaffing and other delays due to budget constraints also remained a challenge.

She said serious implications are also foreseen in the roll-out of the revised curriculum for Grade 8 and 9, the implementation of which already started in 2017 for Grade 8 and 2018 for Grade 9, especially in the areas of textbook provision and continuous professional development.

Hanse-Himarwa also confirmed that universal primary and secondary education subsidies per pupil have been reduced significantly while the subsidy allocations to non-governmental organisations and state-owned enterprises, particularly the Namibian College of Open Learning (Namcol), would merely cover staff related expenditures, such as remuneration and other benefits for the 2017/18 financial year. “A negative impact on learner outcomes is anticipated for the 2017 academic year due to the reduction in the budget allocation for textbooks, school stationery and teaching aids.” She said the ministry has reduced, and in some cases ceased, non-productive expenditure, such as travel allowances, furniture procurement and overtime, and the recruitment process is very closely monitored to ensure that highly critical and budgeted vacancies are filled and to ensure that the wage bill, which gobbles up 85% of the ministerial budget, is not expanded.

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