Frederick Philander
5 November 2008
Windhoek — Standard Bank yesterday donated books worth N$56 000 to the lower primary section via Pollination Publishers to the Ministry of Education at a formal handing over ceremony in the capital.
The bank has been supporting lower primary English language projects from grades 1 to 3 for the past three years, handing out books for free to Namibian schools.
"We have realised the value of basic learning instructions, which should take in the mother tongue of the learners and that is where the biggest need for textbooks is. Mother-tongue instruction is greatly beneficial to the education of our children. This book will form the basis of our learners' awareness and knowledge pertaining to the conservation and care of their natural heritage and will be used in schools for at least the next five years," said Thaddius Maswahu on behalf of the MD of the bank.
According to him, the bank's sponsorship ensures that teachers and learners in marginalised schools have the opportunity to use approved textbooks.
"The government funding for textbooks is unfortunately meager. Learners often have to learn basic concepts without the valuable aid of textbooks.
Through this effort our bank is helping to get more approved textbooks into schools to assist learners in becoming educated and making a difference in the respective communities," he said.
The bank has supported the printing of 2 000 copies of Environmental Studies Grade 2 translations into Rukwangali and Oshikwanyama.
Charles Kabajani, director of programmes and quality assurance, received the books on behalf of the Ministry of Education.
"I understand there is a lot of skepticism and envy from people in other countries for our home-grown education improvement programme, ETSIP.
However, that is the way we are improving our education system and contributions like these books are welcome to reach our goals. I also think people are envious of the programme," Kabajani said in reaction to a question from New Era.
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