Okahandja boys’ hostel a mess

OKAHANDJA Senior Secondary School pupils returned to overcrowded rooms and prison-like conditions last week.

The boys’ hostel at the school has broken windows, dirty walls scribbled with permanent ink, ceilings that are about to collapse and light bulbs that have been non-functional for over two years.

The main staff office for the principal and teachers appears clean and well-furbished, but not too far away from the main school infrastructure lies a collapsing hostel facility.

Teachers and pupils at the government-run school say that the overcrowding in the hostel only worsens the problem as the school is the only secondary school in Okahandja with a hostel that now houses more than 250 boarders.

San pupils from nearby farms are immediately fed into the school’s Grade Eight classes and have to be accommodated in the hostels as well. Concerned teachers said that the hostel conditions did not befit a learning environment for the children, but also added that they are not the decision makers and that it was out of their hands.

Hostel residents, who spoke to The Namibian, say that most of them have to share tiny beds or sleep on the cold floor without a mattress as there is a shortage of beds and mattresses.

Apart from that, most of the rooms have no lockers and learners are forced to share lockers that are broken with no locks.

“There are some lucky pupils whose parents buy them lockers, but the rest of us have to keep our clothes lying around,” said one of the pupils who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“Vandalism has also contributed to the situation as there have been no repairs in a long time,” reveals another pupil who declined to be named for fear of victimisation. The pupil also added that they have to shower in cold water as the school does not make provision for hot water.

“It is a bad situation,” admited hostel superintendent Johannes Mbatemua, adding that a health inspector from the Ministry of Health and Social Services who visited the school last year, said the hostel environment was not conducive for children after touring the facility.

Mbatemua said the regional education office in Otjiwarongo long ago promised that lockers would be distributed to the hostel, but nothing has happened ever since. “The Millennium Challenge Account allocated over N$3 million last year towards improving the school, but none of that money went into the refurbishing of the hostel,” he said. He said the only refurbishment was done in the staff office and classrooms, which explains why the main school infrastructure has a better appearance than the two hostels. He said several teachers raised concerns about the condition of the hostels that continues to be the least of management’s worries. Mbatemua, as well as several other teachers The Namibian spoke to, believe that the school’s hostels should have been prioritised on the budget.

“There was talk of renovating the hostel but it was not put to paper, only verbally,” he said. He explained that no major renovations have been done to the hostel since 1988 when the school was first established.

Mbatemua said the Hostel Development Fund is not enough to use for major renovations. The current Hostel Development Fund hostel fees are N$145 per child for the first term, and N$54 per child for the second term. The hostel fees are N$250 per learner per term.

“This money is only enough for minor repairs such as fixing broken taps,” he said.

The school’s principal, Harold Clarke, could not be reached for comment.

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