Mbumba begs for private sector help

GOVERNMENT yesterday begged the private sector to invest in education by helping with the building of houses for teachers, creation of new secondary schools in rural areas and training for teachers.

At the same time, Education Minister Nangolo Mbumba vowed to root out absenteeism, laziness and low productivity from schools as Government intensifies plans to improve the quality of education in Namibian schools and training institutions. He was presenting parts of the Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (ETSIP) – a multi-billion-dollar plan to overhaul the country’s education sector.The first phase, which is set to start next month, spans until 2011 and will cost N$20,3 billion to implement.According to the ETSIP policy document, Government intends to borrow from the World Bank an amount not exceeding the South African rand equivalent of US$30 million to close the financing gap.Government intends ploughing N$100 million into ETSIP over the next three financial years.Mbumba said there was “still a significant funding gap” which will be revealed in detail at a pledging conference in Windhoek next month.It will be attended by donors from countries such as Japan and Iceland and also local businesses.He called yesterday’s meeting to get the local businesses into action by co-ordinating their responses to the appeal.”We are begging you for support,” he said those who attended a breakfast meeting.”All the pupils we train will either work for you or buy from you”.Mbumba said Namibia has never before had a plan for education developed so thoroughly, with the best available technical advice and participation of educationalists and there was political will and popular demand to improve the situation.He said the Government was ready to provide land on a secure long-term basis on school grounds for the construction of houses for teachers and called on financial institutions to provide the funds for the building.”The Government will deduct rent directly from the salaries of those occupying the houses,” he said.A well-run company will also be called in to maintain the buildings and ensure the repayment of capital and interest.Most representatives of companies who attended the meeting had no real problems with helping the Government in funding education but have expressed concern about the quality of education, commitment of staff and the high cost of administration.Quoting from recent reports, Mike Hill from Pupkewitz said education was in a crisis.He said a survey done at over 600 schools in the North indicated that there was 24 per cent absenteeism amongst teachers.”That sort of thing, we must get rid of first.No organisation can tolerate such poor discipline – our learners are not being given any chance whatsoever,” he said.Harold Pupkewitz, Executive Chairman of Pupkewitz Holdings, said the poor school output has translated into poor input into tertiary and vocational training, with the abject failure of vocational training over the past 15 years seen in the dismal performances of artisans and poor quality of tertiary and university graduates.”Namibia is now suffering from skills anorexia.We are in a downward spiral since we do not have enough skilled technical and managerial people to pass on their skills to the next generation – this is clearly visible in the education sector but is equally true of all sectors of our economy,” he said.He called on Mbumba to start managing the Ministry of Education professionally.”Change the disciplinary rules to allow much easier dismissal for non-conformance to rules.Good employees do not need protection from dismissal – by keeping rotten apples we set a precedent for the whole system to decay – hence high absenteeism,” he said.He said the resource allocation also needed to be reviewed.”Stop begging for more money from the private sector and show that the Ministry can handle the present budget correctly.”The business veteran said Mbumba needed to introduce business practices in the Ministry by getting rid of inefficient systems and unproductive staff.In a statement released to The Namibian after his input, Pupkewitz said the newly empowered “haves” have simply entrenched their position against the “have-nots”, whose interests seem to be ignored.”This is a socio-political time bomb,” he said.Telecom Namibia’s Raimo Naanda asked why the levy for the funding of the education sector, as proposed in the vocational training act, had not been implemented.Len le Roux of the Roessing Foundation suggested that the Ministry of Education look at introducing incentives for companies that help fund education.The private sector will meet before the donor conference to look at how companies will get involved in ETSIP.He was presenting parts of the Education and Training Sector Improvement Programme (ETSIP) – a multi-billion-dollar plan to overhaul the country’s education sector.The first phase, which is set to start next month, spans until 2011 and will cost N$20,3 billion to implement.According to the ETSIP policy document, Government intends to borrow from the World Bank an amount not exceeding the South African rand equivalent of US$30 million to close the financing gap.Government intends ploughing N$100 million into ETSIP over the next three financial years.Mbumba said there was “still a significant funding gap” which will be revealed in detail at a pledging conference in Windhoek next month.It will be attended by donors from countries such as Japan and Iceland and also local businesses.He called yesterday’s meeting to get the local businesses into action by co-ordinating their responses to the appeal.”We are begging you for support,” he said those who attended a breakfast meeting.”All the pupils we train will either work for you or buy from you”.Mbumba said Namibia has never before had a plan for education developed so thoroughly, with the best available technical advice and participation of educationalists and there was political will and popular demand to improve the situation.He said the Government was ready to provide land on a secure long-term basis on school grounds for the construction of houses for teachers and called on financial institutions to provide the funds for the building.”The Government will deduct rent directly from the salaries of those occupying the houses,” he said.A well-run company will also be called in to maintain the buildings and ensure the repayment of capital and interest.Most representatives of companies who attended the meeting had no real problems with helping the Government in funding education but have expressed concern about the quality of education, commitment of staff and the high cost of administration.Quoting from recent reports, Mike Hill from Pupkewitz said education was in a crisis.He said a survey done at over 600 schools in the North indicated that there was 24 per cent absenteeism amongst teachers.”That sort of thing, we must get rid of first.No organisation can tolerate such poor discipline – our learners are not being given any chance whatsoever,” he said.Harold Pupkewitz, Executive Chairman of Pupkewitz Holdings, said the poor school output has translated into poor input into tertiary and vocational training, with the abject failure of vocational training over the past 15 years seen in the dismal performances of artisans and poor quality of tertiary and university graduates.”Namibia is now suffering from skills anorexia.We are in a downward spiral since we do not have enough skilled technical and managerial people to pass on their skills to the next generation – this is clearly visible in the education sector but is equally true of all sectors of our economy,” he said.He called on Mbumba to start managing the Ministry of Education professionally.”Change the disciplinary rules to allow much easier dismissal for non-conformance to rules.Good employees do not need protection from dismissal – by keeping rotten apples we set a precedent for the whole system to decay – hence high absenteeism,” he said.He said the resource allocation also needed to be reviewed.”Stop begging for more money from the private sector and show that the Ministry can handle the present budget correctly.”The business veteran said Mbumba needed to introduce business practices in the Ministry by getting rid of inefficient systems and unproductive staff.In a statement released to The Namibian after his input, Pupkewitz said the newly empowered “haves” have simply entrenched their position against the “have-nots”, whose interests seem to be ignored.”This is a socio-political time bomb,” he said.Telecom Namibia’s Raimo Naanda asked why the levy for the funding of the education sector, as proposed in the vocational training act, had not been implemented.Len le Roux of the Roessing Foundation suggested that the Ministry of Education look at introducing incentives for companies that help fund education.The private sector will meet before the donor conference to look at how companies will get involved in ETSIP.