Martin Endjala
President Hage Geingob said the education sector is now complicated and urges Cabinet to revisit a number of issues pertaining to the Namibian education system.
“We all saw the outcome of the 2022 the NSSC, Advanced Subsidiary level exam or whatever it is called. You even complicated the issues. Just the name. By putting ‘senior’, you already complicate things. We used to say Matric. Now this senior senior. That in itself already complicated the matter. For older people of course. Maybe the young people understand it easily. Complicated. Minister, why? Senior, higher, what what. Matric, standard eight. It was very simple. So we must visit that and see,” Geingob remarked.
Geingob also addressed the high failure rate of AS level learners, suggesting that teachers are to blame for the poor state in which the education sector finds itself in.
Geingob said this at the official opening of Cabinet for the year 2023 at State House this morning. He has called on teachers to pull up their socks and expressed dissatisfaction of news that learners are being taught in tents and under trees. Geingob reportedly took a jab at teachers, questioning why they do not make provision for make-shift structures and classrooms to accommodate learners.
Geingob’s remarks on the high failure rate follows Education Minister Anna Nghipondoka’s announcement that only 5000 students qualified for tertiary education, out of 30 000 students who wrote AS Levels.
Geingob’s remarks did not sit well with a number of people, including prominent Windhoek Lawyer Kadhila Amoomo, who took to social media, questioning the silence of the Teachers Union of Namibia and describing it a “dead organization”.
“We should be worried that Teachers are now under attack by members of the Executive. It is sad that the President, who was once a Teacher himself, is also a perpetrator. What is even more frightening is the silence from the Teachers Union of Namibia. What a dead organization!,” Amoomo said.
In the same vain, the President noted that education is the greatest equalizer and should thus be handled with absolute care. He has since revealed that a meeting on education has been scheduled. He says it is aimed at sharing directions and revisiting the matter to understand the severity of it and to outline the way forward.
Geingob in his speech, while addressing ministers also gave directives to cabinet ministers to prioritize ongoing projects currently implemented in the Harambe Prosperity Plan II and the National Development Plan 5, as well as to report back with 100 percent implementations.
Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila has been tasked to ensure that ministers carry out these directives and those who fail to do so will be held accountable.
“The time for parking the bus is gone, it is time for all to be accountable. Now, the hard work begins”, Geingob said.
