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Student union says curriculum must prepare pupils for university

THE Namibia National Students Organisation (Nanso) is urging the education ministry to change the new school curriculum so that pupils can be better prepared for university.

Nanso president Dorthea Nangolo says the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture needs to realign the new national curriculum to meet entry level requirements for universities in the country.

This comes after the University of Namibia (Unam) has said it will not enrol Grade 11 candidates to the institution, since they are not ready for tertiary education.

Nangolo says the ministry plays a crucial role in ensuring institutions of higher learning and the schools education system are aligned, which is currently not the case.

“You can’t create an exit point and there are limitations in terms of how far somebody who exits from that particular exit point can go,” she said yesterday.

Executive director of education, arts and culture Sanet Steenkamp says Unam’s decision is based on benchmarking its entry level as level 5.

She says schoolchildren should not be educated for universities only.

“We educate children to be open-minded, to be analytical thinkers, to be problem solvers and to decide which area they want to go into,” Steenkamp says.

Unam spokesperson Simon Namesho spoke to Desert FM yesterday, highlighting that the university does not see its position as a being in conflict with the basic education structure which has been in place for the past 43 years.

“When pupils finish Grade 11, they ought to be encouraged to continue to Advanced Subsidiary (AS) level so they can be adequately prepared for university education,” he said.

He encouraged pupils who leave school in Grade 11 to apply for courses provided to them.

Landless People’s Movement (LPM) Youth Command leader Duminga Ndala says Unam’s stance is equivalent to rejecting black children’s education, thereby delaying their academic progress.

She says this reinforces systemic barriers to education, “exacerbating existing inequalities in Namibia”.

“We view this stance as discriminatory, regressive and disconnected from the socio-economic realities of Namibia,” Ndala says.

She says no Namibian child should be denied access to tertiary education in a democratic and independent Namibia.

“We implore Unam to reconsider its decision by adopting an inclusive and flexible system that reflects the realities of the Namibian education system,” Ndala says.

LPM parliamentarian Utaara Mootu last year dubbed Unam a “sell-out” for refusing to admit Grade 11 pupils.

“We know Unam was a sell-out. We were among the people who were protesting so Unam could make provision for some pupils to be admitted, but they were never for us.

“So, we are not surprised that they have reached this conclusion,” she said at the time.

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