The Namibian College of Open Learning (Namcol) is a state-owned educational institution which was established by an act of parliament (Act 1 of 1997) with the aim of assisting adults and out-of-school youth.
Over the years, more people have had a misconstrued perception about Namcol, claiming that it is only a place where people who have failed certain subjects go, but the institution is slowly, but surely changing the narrative. YouthPaper goes into detail about the mandate campaign and what it is meant to achieve.
Launched at the new hall at Namcol’s Jetu Jama Centre in Windhoek on Friday, 2 February, the mandate campaign is meant to educate and inform Namibians about the purpose about the institution. But in order to do this, Namcol’s director Heroldt Murangi said it was important to first reflect on the educational mandate.
“Education is critical for national development,” Murangi said. “We should understand that the Namibian legislation, which brought the Namcol act into being, went through houses of parliament, the National Assembly and the National Council. It was also endorsed by the President at the time.”
Namcol is known to subscribe to many international laws. For example, the institution has observed the Rights of the Child and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child which is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 established by the United Nations. “We can safely say that in order to achieve education for all, access to quality education is important. Access to quality education cannot be achieved solely through conventional institutions. The role of open and distance learning (ODL) needs to be understood,” Murangi urged.
And although it is disputed, often by those who attend conventional learning centres, it is important to remember that ODL also has the capacity to build nations. “We will never have the resources to bring everyone from whatever village to only study with the University of Namibia or the Namibia University of Science and Technology. Education is a human right and it is empowerment,” Murangi said.
“Education is about knowledge, skills acquisition and social justice. Where would Namibians have been if Namcol had not been established?” Those have upgraded their professional and vocational skills have used Namcol, and with the quality education that the school offers, as would any other institution, ODL is contributing to the development of Namibia. But this image has somehow been twisted, Murangi said.
According to Murangi, people complain about ODL, and even now, there are ideas about the University of South Africa (Unisa). “Although we acknowledge that Unisa is the largest university in Africa, there is still a perception that it offers inferior programmes if compared to conventional universities. We are also aware of the open universities in the UK and Australia, but the element of perception will always be there. If you are a product of a conventional university, you will think the conventional way. It is a perception that we need to address with the campaign.”
And perception is at many times not supported by fiction instead of facts, so Namcol’s mandate campaign will aim to inform the nation on Namcol’s legislative mandate and relevance in Namiba today. “The role we are playing is the provision of quality learning resources,” Murangi concluded.
Spearheading the campaign, Morris Kalunduka said that a movement has already started within schools, with the organisation offering speeches and such to schools around the country. “We’re trying to address the challenges. The level of education that you get at Namcol is on par with other institutions of the same level.”
Although the perception will take a while to fix, the youth are urged to understand that Namcol is important. The team has found that more out-of-school school youth are inquisitive about the programmes offered, but the option is open to everyone. For more information on Namcol and its mandate campaign, feel free to engage with the team on Facebook.
