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Namibia: Educating for the Streets?
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New Era (Windhoek)
COLUMN
20 March 2008
Posted to the web 20 March 2008
Charles Siyauya
Windhoek
Give Education Not Excuses
Namibia's Vision 2030 minus year 2008 leaves us with 22 years to have a better advanced Namibia. When this era arrives, everyone apparently will enjoy life to the maximum, whereas suffering, inequalities, unemployment will be history; buried 500 meters deep underground.
What is obvious is that in 2030, the current layer of leaders in Namibia will expire in old age homes and the youth of today will be positioned and entrusted with positions of trust to drive Namibia politically, economically, socially, culturally and religiously forward. Today, this sounds like a dream but in reality this is meant to happen in 22 years.
However, a million-dollar question is: Are the youth of today ready and prepared to accept this challenge if they are deprived of a second chance to get formal education? Is the current national leadership equipping the youth of today with the necessary tools to drive and arrive safely at a better tomorrow or do they view the youth of today as a national burden? I have no answer but let the reader answer this question!
It is worth mentioning that our forefathers and mothers have done their groundwork to perfection in preparing the current generation of national leaders. The current leaders - they are what they are today or know what they know because of those who have gone before. It is based on this solid foundation and foresightedness that I salute our forefathers and sincerely wish that their African spirit will be with us now and forever.
I strongly believe and acknowledge that a lot has been done towards the betterment of young people in Namibia, and a lot is still being done and a lot will be done to prepare the Namibian youth to lead the nation tomorrow, but more needs to be done today, more especially for the "born free Namibians" - meaning those born after independence and going to vote for the first time in the 2009 elections.
The born free Namibians need every Namibian's (private and public sectors') concerted effort, time and energy to be prepared to accept the responsibility to lead the nation.
I am fully convinced that the spinal cord of good leadership and a better Namibia is education. Education is the best gift the Government can ever give to a Namibian child because no one can steal it. With sound education, they will be able to compete internationally with their peers, they will be able to know more about the environment around them, education will enable the young people to analyze things before accepting them as facts or taking them for granted, enable them to be innovative, and enable young people to be useful and productive citizens in society. Education helps young people to change from traditional man to an economic man, helps Namibia to achieve economic growth and not only economic growth but sustainable economic growth as well.
Why So Difficult?
Education is high on Namibia's political agenda, yet we witness high illiteracy, high school dropout rates, high regional and gender differences, low school enrolment, high annually unsound academic results. Whereas top on government budget is education but where exactly in the education sector does this money go if not on building more schools, buying more textbooks, employing Unam and college graduates?
Where do we get it wrong? Interesting enough, Namibia is a signatory to the "World Declaration on Education for All", and achieving universal primary education is also part of the UN's Millennium Goals (UNDP2003).
Target 3 says: Ensure that by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls, will be able to complete a full course of primary schooling. Today in 2008 and numerically left with 7 years to meet that goal, we are backsliding with Grade 10 and 12 dropouts.
Furthermore, the Namibian Constitution is clear and states that every Namibian child must be in school until they complete Grade 7 or reach the age of 16. However, this aim is not completely reached because the majority of the 16 years-old and below are residing in prisons, some are called street kids and 'malalapipe' as if streets and pipes gave birth to them.
Yet, we are optimistically told that: "Namibia's major natural resource are its people and the wealth of this country will be created by the quality of its citizens."
These swarms of young people are the majority of voters. These swarms of young people are the majority in the Namibian prisons and legally classified as juvenile offenders.
These swarms of young people are the majority of those who could not make it to Grade 11 and tertiary education in 2008 and they are educationally defined as Grade 10 and 12 school dropouts, which is a big donation made by the Ministry of Education to the Namibian streets.
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These swarms of young people are the main reasons why profit-making institutions in the likes of Namcol, Tucsin, PATS survive.
This article from Africa is so fresh and full of insight and yearning for the best -- for the country and its young people. I am from Canada and extend my best wishes for you to get an excellent education for all.
I agree with Charles Siyauya that "Education is the best gift the Government can ever give to a Namibian child because no one can steal it."
I have to tell you I am involved in education reform efforts in North America, England and Australia, and even though we may be further ahead in education than African countries,... [Read Full Text]
Please may I have access to any further conversations on this topic especially from our coleague in Canada. I am a masters student at the university of namibia and currently doing a research on the education system here. Currentlu I am looking for relevant literature on factors that influence performance of learners especially those that are sitting for examinations for the second time. please help.
Mwanza
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