Martin Endjala
A collective effort by community members of the Siguruguru village saw three temporary structures made out of corrugated iron sheets erected this week, aimed at accommodating San learners who were stranded. The Satellite school is however still in need of ablution facilities.
The Siguruguru village san community has been without access to education for quite some years now and through the Rundu council, community members expressed their concerns and collectively came together to erect structures for the san learners.
According to the Rundu constituency councilor Paulus Mbangu, the council upon hearing this pushed for the satellite school to be linked with the Ngcangcana Primary School, since it is not yet recognised by the government, in order for their semester reports to have value in the end, as they will have the stamp and logo of Ngcangcana Primary School.
Mbangu further explained that he advised the satellite school to apply for recognition from the government in order to benefit like other government schools, however, in the meantime, the councilor stated that the linkage between the schools will ensure that the satellite school-going learners are not disadvantaged from school grants.
In the meantime, Mbangu stated that the Ngcangcana Primary School will supply all educational materials and other benefits. This is to ensure that the san community school is well cared for and shared responsibility from both communities and government cannot be overemphasized.
The councilor also called on government to officially recognize the san satellite school, for inclusion in the ministry’s budget and allocation schemes to schools.
Meanwhile, he argued that the situation of a lack of classes in the town of Rundu is due to a lack of proper planning by government, a lack of data and statistics collection, to understand the exact number of schools, and learners in the constituency which will enable them to make informed decisions.
“This is what necessitated the recent events, where learners were taught under the trees. The situation has now been brought under control as the ministry and other stakeholders have now provided temporary tents while an amicable solution is being finalized to construct classrooms. I am thus urging town planners and the ministry of education, to make collective efforts in coming up with a well-detailed plan to build more schools, given the population growth in the town, which is estimated to grow even more in the next five-ten years,” Mbangu said.
