A school in the Oshikango circuit of the Ohangwena region has noted a high absenteeism rate and unruly behaviour among pupils who have been accused of bunking school to sell illicit fuel known as ngungula.
The pupils from Edundja Junior Secondary School are reported to use the proceeds from the fuel sale to acquire cheap alcohol from the Angolan border.
The school is located at Edundja village, situated not more than 15km from the Namibia-Angolan border in the Ohangwena region.
School principal Fillippus Shakwenongwe says while the school management and educators are trying their best, the school faces myriad challenges, with pupils often absent from school without any particular reason being the most concerning.
“We have noted that many pupils have adopted a habit of missing school to engage in business activities along the borders where you find that they are drinking cheap alcohol with money they got from selling illicit fuel. We have observed and found many pupils who are absent from school selling ngungula along the borders. While others would be employed by the locals to be their fuel attendants in the locations. When they get to know that they can make some money, they are no longer motivated to return to school and sit in class the whole day,” Shakwenongwe explains.
He says the situation is prevalent among schools located near the borders.
He adds that once the pupils are caught smoking on school premises, they then bunk school because of the shame around their actions.
“They just disappear. Moreover, some of these pupils are those who started school later in life due to late registration, and they are not easy to control or keep track of due to their age. You will find a person who is 24 [years old] and is in Grade 8. How does one run after such an old person?” the principal asks.
He adds that pupils who are residing in the hostels are easier to manage compared to those staying at home.
Many of them, he says, live near the Angolan border and have to walk long distances to come to school each day.
Shakwenongwe says the hostel prevents many pupils from engaging in bad habits outside the school, however, those who live at home and in the communities have become susceptible to social ills with young girls having to leave school due to teenage pregnancy.
The school has 524 pupils, of which 110 are accommodated in the school’s hostel – which is constructed of corrugated iron. The pupils are often cramped in one room due to limited space.
The principal explains that many pupils are left without guidance outside of the school as parents are either at shebeens or living outside of the home in search of better living conditions.
“Imagine a child has to cook and look after their siblings at home after school and this same child has to study, do homework and attend school. It is really quite a difficult situation some of these pupls are going through,” he adds.
Esther Mukumangeni, a teacher at the school says the relationship between parents and teachers is non-existent despite multiple efforts by the school to engage in parent-teacher meetings.
“Only a few parents would attend meetings, when you call them they would give you all sorts of excuses to not attend and others would tell you they live in Windhoek or elsewhere. That is one of the challenges fuelling misbehaviour of pupils who have to go home and figure out for themselves what they are going to eat,” she says.
She adds that some pupils only go to school to get stamps for grants.
Ohangwena region police chief commissioner Ottilie Kashuupulwa says the revelations were new to the police and they would be investigated.
Ohangwena region education director Isak Hamatwi could not be reached for comment.
