New schools to cope with Windhoek boom

THE Ministry of Education built four new schools in Windhoek last year to accommodate pupils who battled to find placements in the past.

The four schools will replace the tent schools set up in Katutura last year to handle the overflow.
The Hage Geingob Project School and the Moses //Garoëb Project School in Katutura will be completed in the next two weeks and will open on Wednesday with all other schools in the country.
Children attending the Hage Geingob Project School will attend afternoon classes from 14h00 to 17h00 at the Hage Geingob Secondary School until the new buildings have been completed.
Both these schools are situated on the same premises. The primary pupils attending the Moses //Garoëb Project School will still be in tent classrooms for the next two weeks.
Both these schools were tent schools last year.
About 700 pupils will be able to attend the Hage Geingob Project School, which is a secondary school, and the Moses //Garoëb Project School can accommodate about 350 primary pupils.
The Ministry of Education also built a new secondary school in Rocky Crest last year, which can accommodate 420 children this year.
The Okahandja Park Primary School is still two months from completion and the children will be housed in tents for the time being. Once completed, 420 children form the area can attend school here.
A total of 30 million was allocated to the Ministry of Education for the construction of these four schools.
‘The Ministry is committed to building a new school every two years to cope with the increasing number of learners, however it was necessary to build more during the last financial year,’ said Clemens Hinanifa, the senior education planner for the Khomas Region.
The quick expansion of the suburbs of Windhoek is a problem for the Ministry, as each suburb needs to have its own school but Government cannot cope with the rapid growth of the city.
In the middle of 2007 the Hillside Primary School and the Highline Secondary School in the Goreangab suburb were completed and are currently hosing around 1 000 learners.
The Ministry has added Grades 11 and 12 to the Highline Secondary School for this year.