Parents blame failure on textbook shortages

SOME parents at Walvis Bay have blamed the high failure rate among pupils on the sharing of textbooks, and have asked when schools will start allocating books to all children in all subjects.

According to the parents, their children have been struggling to do assignments and write tests and exams as they did not have their own textbooks last year. Pupils usually have to share textbooks in groups of two or three for some subjects, as there are not enough textbooks. As a result, some pupils in the group get more time with the shared books, while others have to study for a shorter period. Parents say although studying hard was the secret to passing, the sharing of books also contributes to pupils not achieving their desired marks, while others fail.

“I remember my son sharing books with another pupil last year. Sometimes when he needs the book, the other one will pretend that he cannot find the book, and he would write the test or exams without having gained enough information. Similarly, he also did the same with the books that he had to share with others. This is not good,” said one of the parents, Martha Ilonga, whose child failed Grade 7 last year.

“My child got homework and assignments last year, and he could not always do it right because on a particular day, the book would be with his classmate. As a result, he did wrong homework and assignments, which led to poor marks,” said another parent, Eto Shafetango. He added that although his child passed Grade 9 last year, he was not satisfied with the marks.

Sabeth Petrus, who has a daughter in Grade 9, says she often watched how her child ran up and down between two houses to get her homework and assignments done, because the book was not with her.

“She is used to studying in quietness at home, but now had to go and sit at another house to try and study with a friend. The friend’s house had a lot of people living there, but she had no choice. Sometimes, we just took the book and made copies of some chapters so that she could study at home. Something needs to change, at least this year,” Petrus said.

Karin Angula and Lucia Ndeyapo, whose children are both in Grade 8, said they are not keen on having their children sharing books with strangers “where so many things happen”.

“Luckily, our children are family friends and in the same grade, although they are at different schools. We tried to let them study together and share their books. I don’t support the idea of my child sharing a book with people that I don’t know,” said Angula.

Josephine Iyambo, whose younger sister is in Grade 9, says the shortage of textbooks has always been an issue in Namibian schools, but she does not believe that it contributes to the high failure rate.

“The best academic achievers also share textbooks. However, I believe that the mentality of pupils, teachers and parents has to change in order to have a successful education system. The involvement of everyone in the education of the child needs to improve in order to reduce the failure rate,” she stated.

Walvis Bay education circuit inspector Monica Gawises said she understands the frustration of some children having to share books, but the ministry has been providing and trying hard to replace lost textbooks, while some pupils never return books.

“We are pleading every year, especially with Grade 10 and Grade 12 pupils to return the books after writing [exams], but some do not return them. We ask pupils to care for the books, but some end up destroyed. When we try measures like withholding the results until they pay, it is also a problem,” she added.

Gawises said parents are also always asked to go to schools and sign for books that are handed over to their children, but some parents do not show up.

“We are appealing to parents to start taking ownership of the materials that are handed to their children so that the ones in the following year cannot have the trouble that we are talking about now. It is all about teamwork,” she urged.

Gawises gave the assurance that new books will be printed for the new curriculum and handed to pupils, but appealed to parents to team up with schools to help take care of the books so that every pupil can study effectively.

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