Free tertiary education will focus on fields critical to Namibia’s economic growth, addressing a mismatch between graduate output and labour market demands.
Minister of education, innovation, youth, sport, arts and culture Sanet Steenkamp says Namibia’s education system is vital for its economic development and needs to equip the workforce with the skills needed for a modern, knowledge-based industrial economy.
She says free tertiary education will, therefore, be linked to the needs and demands of the country’s key sectors.
Steenkamp said this during a courtesy visit to //Kharas governor Aletha Frederick at Keetmanshoop on Tuesday.
The purpose of the visit was to engage with schools and visit youth centres and sport facilities, as well as higher education and vocational institutions in the region.
“So it is not a given that free education will be open, where we just train without taking note of the key priority needs our country has and needs to focus on,” the minister said.
Speaking at an International Workers’ Day event at Oshakati last month, president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah identified sectors such as mining, energy, oil and gas, tourism and fisheries as key economic engines with the potential to unlock employment opportunities for many Namibians.
The president said the country is blessed with abundant renewable and non-renewable energy resources, which must be seized through value-addition for the benefit of all people.
“However, this potential remains far-fetched if we continue to export raw materials without processing them,” she said.
Nandi-Ndaitwah said the export of finished products will present compelling opportunities for local entrepreneurs to invest in the manufacturing sector and emerging industries, such as sport and the creative sectors.
“While calling for direct foreign investment in our economy, we must have deliberate programmes aimed at strengthening local businesses and entrepreneurs. We have to invest in home-grown initiatives that do not only enhance the value of our resources, but also transform and grow our economy, create wealth, empower our communities, create sustainable jobs and accelerate development,” she said.
The education ministry in a media statement released on Tuesday urged tertiary institutions to curb their intake of teacher trainees in fields that are already saturated and rather prioritise those with shortages.
Many graduates struggle to find jobs because the education system does not adequately prepare them for entrepreneurship or specialised industries, the statement noted.
The ministry acknowledged the mismatch between graduates and job market needs.
“We have reached out to our tertiary institutions to reduce their intake of teacher trainees as institutions of higher learning are producing more teachers than the system can accommodate,” the statement reads.
The Namibian has reported that the number of unemployed teachers has almost doubled from 8 000 between 2017 and 2023 to 15 000 between 2023 and 2025.
Hundreds of them took to the streets countrywide on Tuesday demanding the end of job interviews and for the education ministry to commence a mass recruitment process for teachers.
The Namibia Labour Market Outlook Report for 2019 to 2023 by the National Planning Commission says the economy has the highest demand for technical occupations such as bricklayers, plasterers, builders and auto mechanics.
The report further says there is remarkably high demand for electrical, electronic, civil and mechanical engineers in the country.
“Job openings in the top 40 engineering and technical occupations are projected to be 142 694 between 2018 and 2023 – twice that of white-collar occupations of 54 691.
“Labour mobility across sectors of the economy and low supply of the aforementioned professionals massively contributed to the high labour demand, as a result they have the highest job openings,” says the report.
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