Principals need to explain

SCHOOL principals who sent pupils home last week already might be called on the carpet before the Permanent Secretary (PS) of Education, Alfred Ilukena.

Ilukena emphasised that he had not given any schools permission to shut down last week already. ‘It was not an instruction by the Ministry.’The PS said the marking of examination papers by teachers is not an excuse to send learners home before the schools are officially allowed to close. ‘On the days that they don’t mark, they can teach.’Abraham Iyambo, the Minister of Education, yesterday said he has not been informed about any arrangements for schools to close early. The matter would need to be investigated, Iyambo said.A number of schools in especially the Khomas Region sent their pupils home on Friday.Upon enquiry, the regional education director, Josia Udjombala, said the directive from his office stipulated that today is the last school day for pupils, whilst the last working day for teachers is Thursday.Should schools have ignored this directive, principals will have to explain this, he said.Toivo Mvula, the Ministry’s spokesperson, said on Sunday: ‘The school inspectors have to ensure that schools are adhering to the school calendar and that those that close earlier compensate for the lost day in one way or another.’Mvula said the school calendar should have at least 195 school days per year.According to education expert Andrew Matjila, minimising the number of school days has a definite detrimental effect on learners’ progress. ‘We already have a terrible situation with backlogs. We have children in their 20s who are still at secondary school, because their education was delayed. Minimising the number of school days would put them in serious trouble.’Matjila further said it is going to take much more than the recent national education conference to improve the system. ‘There are so many pillars which education depends on. It’s going to take time and hard work.’

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