Iyambo’s Approach May End Up Frustrating Subordinates

I WONDER whether Minister of Education Abraham Iyambo will be comfortable to arrive at his office for work only to find President Hifikepunye Pohamba or even Prime Minister Nahas Angula in the company of the print and electronic media, seated in his place, asking him where he has been.

The good doctor will obviously want to be given a time and be informed beforehand of the visit and it should be behind closed doors without the media. He will feel witch-hunted. Equally, the Prime Minister, as a coordinator of Government, will feel sidelined and morally de-energised if the President was to do that. The PM will feel the President is taking over his job.This scenario brings me to the pouncing approach or the surprise visits to schools, flanked by the media, which Iyambo has resorted to only a month after a National Conference on Education. The conference should have recommended some best and practical methods to be used on how to discipline the principals and teachers.Yes, absenteeism, laziness, lack of punctuality or tardiness/incompetence, indiscipline, insubordination and drunkenness, etc, must be fought tooth and nail in the education profession. But is parading teachers or principals as drunkards, undisciplined, absconding or lazy elements a solution? Imagine teaching or managing teachers/learners/the school after you have been hauled before the national TV screen as a problem or trouble-maker. Will that give you any motivation, authority or legitimacy? It does not add up. It is tantamount to a Kangaroo Court. A person, i.e. a teacher or principal, must be presumed innocent until proven guilty by a competent court. Procedural disciplinary measures must be followed. Even the suspected thieves/robbers/killers are not paraded on TVs or newspapers before they appear before a competent court. But those in charge of the education system have become a law unto themselves. We need to be informed about what happened to the powers vested in directors, inspectors and school boards of education.Iyambo is behaving like a person trying to shoot a sparrow with a Bazooka. He is too senior to deal with the lateness and absenteeism or drinking habits among learners and teachers at schools. In fact, are the headquarters of the Ministry of Education properly functioning if the symptoms of the sickness are visible at schools level? Iyambo can keep on running around and about schools and all of them will end up getting tired of his surprise visits. He will only succeed in increasing S&Ts (subsistence and travel allowances). If the inspectors, principals and teachers are not doing their work, why keep paying them? The blame game will just de-motivate, demoralise and frustrate teachers more. Not all teachers and principals are bad, lazy or abandon their work.The surprise visits will not work to bring a positive change. They will instead instil fear, hatred, accusations of backbiting and divisions. Teachers have left the ‘noble’ profession because there is no appreciation for what they do. Even when there are no chairs, textbooks, libraries or laboratories, the teachers are to blame at the end of the day for poor results. It makes a Minister feel good to be seen to be doing something in the field but Iyambo is needed in his office most.Steven MvulaHuman Rights Activist