Flood dangers shut down Zambezi schools, exposing pupils to wildlife

The lessons of about 548 pupils of three schools in the floodplains of the Zambezi region will be interrupted temporarily due to school closures brought about by a rise in floods.

Annual floods experienced in the eastern part of the Zambezi region cut off access to villages, schools and other government institutions, especially in the Kabbe South and Kabbe North constituencies.

The schools that will be closed from today are Muzii Combined School and Nankuntwe and Mpukano primary schools.

A letter seen by The Namibian yesterday, issued on 8 May by regional education director Alex Sikume, states that the continued rise in floods creates an unconducive environment.

The letter states that teaching and learning will only resume at these schools on 19 June.

“Due to the floodwaters that continue to rise and have created an unconducive environment for both pupils and teachers in terms of living and access, your school is directed to temporarily close. This early closure will result in a total of 22 days lost in this semester, which is ending on 13 June.

“These schools will open on 19 June to compensate for lost time. However, the regional management team will continue to monitor the situation during this closure, and if there is no improvement in the situation, further directives shall be given in this regard,” the letter reads.

Nankuntwe Combined School principal Gift Samboma yesterday told The Namibian this is considered to be their holiday and they will be having classes while the rest of the schools are on holiday.

“No extra work has been given to the pupils as this is considered a holiday for us. We will compensate for the missed days when we resume in June,” he said.

He added that they will close and leave school today as directed.

The principals of the affected schools recently told The Namibian about concerns of pupils being exposed to crocodiles, snakes and hippos on their way to school and back.

As such, a crocodile that was roaming around the community hostel at Muzii Combined School grounds was killed by the school board chairperson in April.

They highlighted how both pupils and staff were suffering to access schools as they were using old boats and unsafe canoes.

There was also a high number of pupil absenteeism.

The Namibian in April reported that pupils at other schools have been forced to use traditional canoes or old banana boats to access schools.

The Kabbe South and Kabbe North constituencies were the hardest hit during the rainy season at the time.

The Namibian reported that 8 500 pupils were unable to attend school.

Some of the hardest hit regions included the Kunene, Omusati, Oshana, Ohangwena and Zambezi regions.

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