Eheke school calls for patience

ONLY 18 male pupils at the Eheke Secondary School in the North do not have beds, the Director of Education, Dute Shinyemba, said yesterday.

She was responding to a recent SMS in The Namibian. Pupils sent a text message to the newspaper saying they were tired of sleeping on the floor and eating while standing up.They claimed they’d had to live with this situation for six months.In the SMS, they asked Government how a hostel could be built without beds, a dining hall, tables and benches.Shinyemba told The Namibian that because of the serious demand from parents and leaders in the Eheke area, Government, in solidarity with them, had decided to build a secondary school there that would start with Grade 11.As they had acted swiftly, they had been unable to immediately have all the necessary items, such as enough beds, chairs or benches and tables for all pupils.”Because the parents, local leaders and the children around there wanted to start with their education as soon as possible at their school, we decided to admit them, with those limited facilities we had.We are in the process to continue buying the rest, until all the learners have beds, tables and benches at their school.The dining hall is already there, and only enough tables and benches were needed,” said Shinyemba.Eheke Secondary School was constructed last year and started to function this year.It was built for only 120 pupils, but because of the demand, they admitted 18 extra pupils, bringing the total number to 138.Shinyemba said the 18 extra pupils were not supposed to be in the hostel, but because they had to travel far, they had been accommodated.In addition, they had a problem with a factory in South Africa, which had been slow in delivering their order of beds.”No, we are trying our best.All the female learners and other male learners have their beds, tables and benches and all are now eating inside the dining hall.It is only those18 male learners who still have to be provided with beds, and then everything is okay again at Eheke secondary school,” said Shinyemba.She urged the 18 pupils to be patient “and wait for their beds to arrive soon”.Pupils sent a text message to the newspaper saying they were tired of sleeping on the floor and eating while standing up.They claimed they’d had to live with this situation for six months.In the SMS, they asked Government how a hostel could be built without beds, a dining hall, tables and benches.Shinyemba told The Namibian that because of the serious demand from parents and leaders in the Eheke area, Government, in solidarity with them, had decided to build a secondary school there that would start with Grade 11.As they had acted swiftly, they had been unable to immediately have all the necessary items, such as enough beds, chairs or benches and tables for all pupils.”Because the parents, local leaders and the children around there wanted to start with their education as soon as possible at their school, we decided to admit them, with those limited facilities we had.We are in the process to continue buying the rest, until all the learners have beds, tables and benches at their school.The dining hall is already there, and only enough tables and benches were needed,” said Shinyemba.Eheke Secondary School was constructed last year and started to function this year.It was built for only 120 pupils, but because of the demand, they admitted 18 extra pupils, bringing the total number to 138.Shinyemba said the 18 extra pupils were not supposed to be in the hostel, but because they had to travel far, they had been accommodated.In addition, they had a problem with a factory in South Africa, which had been slow in delivering their order of beds.”No, we are trying our best.All the female learners and other male learners have their beds, tables and benches and all are now eating inside the dining hall.It is only those18 male learners who still have to be provided with beds, and then everything is okay again at Eheke secondary school,” said Shinyemba.She urged the 18 pupils to be patient “and wait for their beds to arrive soon”.

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