Patience Makwele
The ministry of education, innovation, youth, sports, arts and culture has identified gaps in learning outcomes and skills development among the challenges it must address, as it seeks to better prepare young people for employment and improve the relevance of education and training.
The ministry’s 2025–2030 strategic plan commits it to finalising a National Human Resources Development Strategy to address what deputy minister Dino Ballotti described as a “perceived skills mismatch” and youth unemployment.
Speaking at the plan’s launch in Windhoek on Monday, Ballotti said the ministry had deliberately acknowledged its shortcomings rather than conceal them.
“We name these problems on purpose, as we cannot fix what we are not prepared to admit,” he said.
Presenting the strategic plan, MEIYSAC service director general Ellencia Hanse, identified limited funding and infrastructure, gaps in learning outcomes and skills development, unequal access between rural and urban communities and weaknesses in governance and performance management as challenges facing the ministry.
“More people gaining relevant skills and more graduates finding employment” are among the outcomes the ministry wants to achieve,” Hanse said.
She said the plan’s success would be measured by changes in people’s lives rather than activities completed on paper.
“The important thing is not just to report on activities but to demonstrate the impact of this plan,” she said.
Ballotti said at least four vocational training centres would be upgraded into technical and vocational education and training (TVET) colleges offering qualifications up to National Qualifications Framework Level 6.
According to Balloti, TVET enrolment increased from 23 870 trainees to 26 875 in 2025.
Adding that the ministry also plans to finalise the human resources development strategy as part of its response to skills mismatches and youth unemployment.
The enrolment figures show growth in vocational training, but do not establish whether graduates are finding jobs or whether their qualifications match employers’ needs.
The ministry’s wider strategy includes improving teaching and learning, expanding digital access, strengthening research and innovation, and improving access to education across rural and urban communities.
The plan brings together the responsibilities of three former ministries under one framework, covering education, training, youth development, sport, arts and culture.
Executive director for youth, sports and national service Gerard Vries said the plan’s success would depend on whether the ministry and its partners translated their commitments into measurable outcomes.
“What stands out for me is that the strategic plan is firmly focused on implementation,” Vries said, adding that it establishes a framework for performance, accountability and evaluation.
“The work now begins,” he said, stressing that the launch marked the start of collective responsibility for implementing the plan.
Vries also disclosed that the ministry was in discussions with NamPost about distributing funding under the Namibia Youth Credit Scheme.
Disbursement would most likely take place in late December or early January, he said.
He reported that 1 032 young people had received entrepreneurship and business management training, while 968 had been identified for support under the credit scheme.
He challenged the ministry’s youth directorate to increase the number of young people reached by the entrepreneurship programme.
The strategy’s implementation began in the 2025/2026 financial year, ahead of Monday’s formal launch.
Vries said the plan’s ambitions would only be realised if officials, institutions, partners and stakeholders took responsibility for implementation.
“It is our shared responsibility to ensure that the ambitions contained in the strategic plan translate into meaningful outcomes for the people of Namibia,” he said.
