Andrew Kathindi
The Ministry of Education has reiterated its decision to re-open schools on Monday 6 July, following a 2-week delay in its initial phase in plan after a learner in Mariental tested positive for COVID-19 last month.
The basic education minister, Anna Nghipondoka told Parliament on Thursday that aside from one region, schools countrywide were ready to resume face-to-face teaching on Monday.
“The main concern we have is grade 11 and 12, especially in Erongo because now we are only having 6 schools, 4 in Erongo and 2 in Omusati that cannot open. In Erongo, Swakop and Walvis are the only ones not opening on schedule,” she said.
Her comments come after another learner from Mweshipandeka High School in the Oshana region this week tested positive for COVID-19, resulting in the temporary shutdown of face-to-face teaching at the school for two weeks.
She further dismissed suggestions to scrap the academic year and defer it to next year as has been suggested by the Teachers Union of Namibia (TUN), stating, “Who knows how long COVID is going to stay? We are saying the best is to strengthen our response mechanism through the Ministry of Health, strengthen our behavior and move into the new normal. You close the academic year, then another year comes; you close again and so on. For now, as a country, we can still comfortably say, we can still manage the way we run our education system.”
The minister said concerns raised over students becoming infected with COVID-19 at school were unwarranted as there was a greater chance of them contracting the virus in the community.
“This is a problem. Kids bring the virus not only from the road but even from home. That’s why there is a call for the communities to behave also. We’re telling children when they go to school, they will get a virus but when you look at the way the community behaves, people are there without masks, some of them are even drinking,” the Education minister said.
She also noted that the ministry has seen challenges in providing more than one or two thermo guns to test learners’ temperatures as they “are very expensive. We tried to get two per school, they are about N$2,000 each.”
Nghipondoka said water and sanitation also remain an issue at the schools around the country.
“The issue of water and sanitation is a challenge, especially for the phase that is to begin on Monday. N$600 million was made available by government, meant to work on water whereby the Ministry of Agriculture’s Rural Water Supply divisions in the regions would supply water. They have already started. They promised that they will be done with putting up water tanks and connecting them to water pipes by the end of this month. However, from our observation, they would still need an additional week or two to be completely ready.”
Meanwhile, Secretary General of Namibia National Teachers Union (NANTU) Loide Shaanika told Windhoek Observer that while she is satisfied with the two-week buffer the government provided after it appealed to the Prime Minister, Saara Kuugongelwa, there is confusion about what school officials should do when a COVID-19 case arises at a school. She said the Health Minister was not acting promptly in addressing suspected cases at schools.
This comes after recent media reports stated that there was a state of panic at the Mweshipandeka High School where a learner tested positive for COVID-19 as no contact tracing was done and no official communication was given.
“What is a concern is that there are no clear directives in terms of what should be done when a case is suspected at the school. Who should they call, is it the ministry of health or the ministry of education? This why we are engaging with the ministry of health tomorrow, Friday 3 July, on this matter so there isn’t panic if another case should arise. We expect a large number of learners to arrive at school on Monday, mainly smaller children, and we have to be prepared for them,” Shaanika said.
