No room for jealousy, laziness – Namwandi

UNPREPARED school leavers and graduates, an overhaul of the school curriculum to accommodate more technically oriented pupils, an improvement plan for poorly performing schools, enhanced work ethics and the intensification of surprise school inspections should top the priority list of the Ministry of Education for 2012.

According to David Namwandi, the Deputy Minister of Education, the time has come for Government to get value for the money it ploughs into the Ministry of Education.In the 2011/ 2012 financial year, a total of N$8, 3 billion – or 22 per cent – of the national budget was allocated to education.To achieve its objectives, ‘we need to keep abreast with global trends by introducing and strengthening our vocational and technical skills in all our public schools as this is the only sure way to accommodate all national talents’, he urged staff members in Windhoek yesterday.Namibia’s education system should be geared to ‘ignite our youth and prepare them to face a tough global village with hope and certainty’.Institutions of higher learning should stop paying lip service and instead collaborate to produce quality graduates. ‘To us, duplication is wastage of resources rather than enhancement of competition. It is the wish of this ministry that tertiary institutions start complementing each other rather than being competitors.’Moreover, Namwandi charged, ‘no head of public institutions should be allowed to run these as private property. Institutions are advised that despite the fact that their acts provide for academic freedom status, the Ministry has no kind words for leaders of tertiary institutions who are allergic to cooperation and instead opt to discredit or demean other tertiary institutions.’This cooperation should be aimed at identifying shortage of skills so that demand-driven training programmes can be developed. According to him, this would increase the employability of graduates.’Remember we are in a terrain where real issues of life, i.e. bread-and-butter issues are tackled, we thus cannot afford to gamble with the future of our next generation.’Namwandi told staff members to do away with jealousy and laziness.He said 2012 is the year of ‘survival of the weakest. We are encouraged to move on with global progressive forces and discard all habits of empowering those who are already powerful.’The Ministry of Education’s responsibilities include the ‘strengthening [of] vocational skills in our youth, placement of teachers as the outcome of the English proficiency test dictates, ensure that schools which are affected by floods are taken care of so that their performance equates other schools nationally. Implementation of Cabinet directives on the outcome of the national conference on education should top our priorities.’