Govt ‘neglects’ San pre-primary school

NDAMA – A teacher at a pre-primary school for the San community at the Ndama informal settlement on the outskirts of Rundu claims the school is neglected by the Government.

Teacher Beatha Kasera told Nampa last week that the school does not benefit from the Government’s school-feeding programme, nor does it get any assistance such as educational materials and foodstuffs from it.The Nchove Pre-primary School was established in 2006 to give the marginalised San community an opportunity to have access to education.But, since the establishment of the school, the enrollment of learners has been declining, with the main reason being that most San learners attend school on empty stomachs.She said this has resulted in most learners dropping out of school, because they always come to school hungry.Kasera noted that the only assistance the school gets is from Eddie Basson, a retired school principal, who provides a 20kg bag of maize meal, cabbage and a box of soap, once a week.This assistance, according to her, is not enough to cater for the 30 learners at the school and does not even last for a week.She explained that the school is also faced with a serious water shortage, as parents who volunteer to cook for learners at the school have to walk about 2km to fetch water at the nearest school.’The learners are dropping out of school to go and look for food elsewhere, because they are hungry,’ Kasera emphasised.The teacher, who works as a volunteer at the school, wants the Government’s school-feeding programme to be introduced at the school in order to attract more San children to enroll.Approached for comment, Kavango Regional Education Deputy Director Fanuel Kapapero said the pre-primary school is not an official school because it is not registered with the Ministry of Education and thus cannot benefit from the school-feeding programme.Kapapero stated that he doesn’t even know who owns or runs that school, but promised to follow up the matter.The Education Deputy Director added that the ministry is only aware of classes that were expanded at the Ndama Primary School in order to accommodate some San-speaking people.Meanwhile, the Chief Community Liaison Officer within the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare, Verner Sinimbo, under which kindergartens fall, indicated that the ministry has not neglected the San community.She said that they want to do more, but are hindered by financial constraints.’The love for the San learners is there, but the funds are not there,’ she lamented.Sinimbo said her Ministry has a budget of N$35 000 to cater for 167 kindergartens in the region which, according to her, is not enough to cater for all the needs of the kindergartens.She, however, noted that her Ministry is in the process of purchasing building materials, chairs and desks for this school.The Gender Equality and Child Welfare Ministry is also planning to hold a sensitisation meeting on the importance of education and teenage pregnancies, amongst other issues, with San learners there.The Nchove Pre-primary School has two corrugated iron room structures serving as classrooms, and two pit latrine toilets, which were built with financial support from the Immanuel Church.- Nampa