Ndama east school operating illegally – education ministry

Following a widely circulated video from the Ndama area at Rundu, education minister Sanet Steenkamp says the classes, where about 500 pupils were seen attending school under a tree, are being conducted illegally.

Her response comes after Affirmative Repositioning leader Job Amupanda last week shared a video of the pupils.

On Thursday, Steenkamp told members of parliament that these illegally operated classes under the 12 trees, with 552 pupils, is located 900 metres from the newly constructed and formally registered Ndama South government school, which was constructed in 2023 and started operating in September the same year.

“The school was intentionally and purposefully constructed to accommodate the same pupils.
We have it on record that the parents of these pupils flatly refused to allow their children to be absorbed in the nearby government schools, including the newly constructed Ndama South, ” she said.

However, they have since been in constant engagement with the parents of these pupils to try and convince them to allow their children to enter the government schools for better learning and teaching environments.

But, for reasons best known to them, they still continue to defy the ministry’s directives.

Steenkamp said in the Kavango East region alone, the ministry constructed a total of 87 classrooms and 13 ablution facilties.

Out of these, a total of 14 classrooms and two ablution facilities were built at Ndama South, specifically targeting pupils that were housed by the five illegal schools operating under trees at various locations within the Ndama community at that time.

The illegally unregistered schools were the Ndama East community, Ndama West community, Tuhingireni community, Mangomba community and Ukumwe community schools.

These illegal schools, she said, were mainly established and operated by unemployed teacher graduates.

Upon completion of construction in Ndama south, all five illegal schools were directed in writing by the ministry on 20 September 2023 to close down their operations and ensure that all the pupils at those schools are referred to the newly established schools and various other existing schools in the surrounding area.

Four of the illegal schools obliged and closed down their operation.

However, one of them refused and remains in operation to this day.

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