Education ministry to deal with overcrowded hostel

THE Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture in the Kavango West region says it is aware of the deplorable condition the overcrowded Himarwa Ithete Secondary School hostel is in.

The ministry says it has made budgetary arrangements to address the situation.

This comes after the school, situated about 5km west of Nkurenkuru, has been visited by the Namibia National Teachers Union (Nantu), which has described its condition as unhygienic and unhealthy.

The hostel, which is supposed to accommodate about 260 pupils, is currently housing 760 children, with some forced to share beds, or sleep on the floor or in tents.

“We are experiencing many problems with our toilets. The flushing toilets we are currently using are blocked and damaged.

“When we go to the toilet to relieve ourselves, we are welcomed by maggots,” one of the pupils says.

Another says sleeping in tents is not safe.

“You don’t know what happens at night. You might be robbed or attacked,” she says.

Some of the school’s kitchen staff are said to be forced to double their shifts as the number of pupils in the hostel has increased.

“You could find 18 to 20 pupils sharing the same room. That’s very bad with the pandemic we’re experiencing. Some kids sleep on the floor, and the floors are not clean. The government should hear our cry: This environment is not healthy,” one of the school’s teachers said.

Salomon Tenga, spokesperson of the Kavango West Regional Council, says the education directorate is aware of the situation at the school and has taken steps to address the situation.

“The directorate through the regional council has already budgeted for the construction of three classroom blocks,” he says.

He says the directorate wrote to the ministry to request additional funds to build extra classrooms and hostel blocks that would accommodate 128 pupils.

Tenga says the process is currently at the procurement stage.

“The ministry has allocated an amount of N$450 000 to the directorate to renovate some schools in the region, and Imarwa Ithete is our priority,” he says.

Regarding the unhygienic toilets, Tenga says the council has advised the school to buy cleaning chemicals while the council is looking for a permanent solution.

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