Iyambo lays down the law at Education

EDUCATION Minister Abraham Iyambo has asked his staff to work hard and be committed if the ministry is to succeed in making Namibia a knowledge-based country.

In his first public address as Education Minister, Iyambo told senior ministry officials that ‘permanent solutions are needed now,’ adding that Namibia’s future depended on their commitment to give Namibian children an opportunity to become ‘productive human beings’.He called for more to be invested in education, citing the examples of Malaysia, Japan and Switzerland, which he said did not succeed because they found oil or had good weather but because they invested heavily in their education systems. ‘Education is the answer and our safe insurance policy,’ he said, adding that if more was invested in education Namibia would have the potential to fight poverty and unemployment and to advance economic growth. ‘The more we invest in the future of our children, the more we can withdraw from those banks of knowledge and the closer we come to attaining our country’s vision,’ he said. He said his focus would not be on the possible reasons why the ministry was failing in some areas, but on finding solutions.He also touched on the operational aspects of the ministry, saying its policies should not be seen as cast in stone, but should be responsive to the changing needs of the country.According to the former Fisheries Minister, he is a hands-on minister and expects from his managers the same standards he sets for himself. He was confident that his new team would find solutions and rise to new heights. ‘We’d better succeed, otherwise our country will remain backward and our grand- and great-grandchildren will never forgive us,’ he told the regional education directors. President Hifikepunye Pohamba yesterday called for the reintegration of pre-primary education into the formal education sector. When opening the first session of his new Cabinet, Pohamba said both the physical integration and the harmonisation of the curriculum must take place, because a strong pre-primary and primary education system was critical to the success of the country’s education system.He said the education sector needed intensified attention in order to address its many challenges. He said there was a need to improve the performance of the sector, starting at pre-primary through to secondary school levels. ‘We must also improve the physical condition of the school buildings, accommodation for teachers, libraries, laboratories, as well as the availability of textbooks,’ said Pohamba, adding that he was pleased that the Millennium Challenge Account grant was being used to address some of the country’s education needs. Sharing Pohamba’s sentiments, Iyambo said research was needed into the cause of poor grade 12 and 10 performance. Iyambo announced that he would be visiting schools and regional offices to assess progress and said he would talk directly to under-performing directors instead of waiting for the Permanent Secretary to deal with them.’I am addressing you as a person who hates non-delivery, non-performance, laziness and artificial and bloated bureaucracy,’ he said.