A deeper look at the right to basic education

The Namibia National Students Organisation (Nanso) has launched the first phase of its annual flagship programme, the Access to Education campaign, in the Zambezi Region's Dr Sam Nujoma Combined School.

The campaign will run under the theme 'Spearheading and restoring radical responsiveness towards the realisation of equitable access to quality education in Namibia’, and speaks to the organisation’s overall mandate of being at the forefront of accessible, quality education at all levels in the country.

Furthermore, this particular campaign is especially aimed at addressing issues affecting and hindering the Namibian learner, student and trainee from accessing education that is affordable and inclusive.

"This year’s campaign is particularly crucial given the national education crisis we find ourselves in as a country, and all efforts are geared towards looking at the various issues affecting education, and providing strategic and effective recommendations to government," Nanso said.

The first phase of the campaign is aimed at interrogating the state of basic education in the country, and identifying key factors affecting access to quality education.

At present, the organisation's leadership has begun national school-readiness assessment visits, where they are visiting schools across the country and assessing their overall state, looking at the infrastructure, availability of learning and teaching materials and accommodation, amongst other criteria.

So far, Nanso's national executive committee has visited numerous schools within the Zambezi, Kavango East, Kavango West and Ohangwena regions, while the regional executive committees across all 14 regions have also begun assessing schools within their respective regions.

"The most prominent issue yet is the lack of classrooms, and as a result, schools have resolved to teaching under trees, tents and other makeshift structures to accommodate learners. While the leadership applauds the schools for these efforts, it is unacceptable, and Nanso calls onto the ministry of education, arts and culture to heed urgently to the president’s directive to exacerbate the building of more classrooms."

Secondly, there is a lack of learning and teaching materials in schools, especially textbooks and school furniture, the organisation said. "In fact, some schools do have any textbooks for Advanced Subsidiary learners. As such, there is urgent need to procure textbooks and other crucial materials. Any expectations for effective teaching and learning to take place in these schools is far-fetched."

According to Nanso, teachers have not received sufficient training and capacitation to deliver the revised curriculum.

"Upon engaging the teachers, school principals and regional education directorates, one thing was common amongst all these engagements, and it was that practicing teachers are not capacitated to teach the revised curriculum.

"Nanso remains clear on this matter - teachers must undergo mandatory training and capacitation, and the subject matter taught in education courses at institutions of higher learning must be aligned to the revised curriculum."

On accommodation, the organisation noted that learners have to walk at least 30 kilometres to access schools every day, especially in the Kavango East, Kavango West and Zambezi regions. This is because only a few schools have hostels, and even the hostels that exist cannot accommodate the large number of learners. The lack of government hostels coupled with the insufficient number of schools means learners have to walk very long distances to access schools, it said.

"In the northern regions, learners have to even cross dangerous floodwater to go to school every day. Government must, as a matter of urgency, invest in the construction of hostels for both high schools and primary schools. Upon visiting the schools, the national executive committee has identified a number of issues that are common within the regions visited. The aforementioned issues are but a narrow picture of the devastating state of basic education in Namibia.

"We cannot ignore the magnitude of the crisis we find ourselves in as a country, and we must respond with strategic mechanisms that address the shopping list of issues affecting access to basic education. As a leadership, we welcome the agreement reached by the ministry and the Namibia National Teacher’s Union to address the teacher-to-learner ration. The overpopulation of classrooms continues to challenge the delivery of quality education. For instance, Ndama Primary School in Kavango East has 90 learners in a classroom. This is absolutely unacceptable, and must be addressed immediately."

Nanso added that it has undertaken national research looking at the state of education in all 14 regions, and visiting all the schools across the country will help it determine what the gaps within the education system are, and how they can best be addressed.

Upon the completion of the Access to Education campaign, the national executive committee will submit an extensive report highlighting all the challenges, and strategic recommendations to the ministry.