As a concerned teacher, parent, sister and aunt I decided to make my voice heard seeing that everyone has that right to freedom of speech.

I'm really tired of people blaming the teachers for the poor results - not forgetting the recent results of the English proficiency test for principals and teachers.

As we all know, the University of Namibia compiled the test and also marked it. As a university they also train teachers. So the question is how did those teachers pass their exams if they cannot read and write basic English? The recent scandal comes to mind about the marks for sex saga.

I got my training at the Windhoek College of Education and we had intensive training in teaching during our third year and believe me, if you couldn't speak or write proper English you could not pass your final year.

The number of local education experts, non-governmental organisations and a trade union that expressed their shock at the poor results were supporting the change in our education system and they kept it even when they saw that there were problems and learners and teachers were struggling with them.

Our learners won't be accepted at a university in South Africa unless they have four subjects on higher level. Do we really think that we are giving them an equal opportunity? Passing levels (points: 23) are decreased yearly in order to increase the pass rate. People, who are we trying to fool?

The statement of Andrew Matjila, a well-respected, retired school teacher and former politician, who accused the teachers of having "poisoned thousands of children out there" must be true because we taught teachers, lawyers, doctors, politicians, ministers, principals, subject heads, basically the whole of Namibia! Need I say more?

People are so quick to remind us, the teachers, that learners have rights. So, what happened to the learners' responsibilities?

At the week-long national conference on education no principal or teacher was invited. Why not? Don't you think we have valuable input or are we not qualified enough? Why would you then trust us enough to teach the future leaders? Makes you think!

Well, let me give you a few of my ideas and maybe you will consider them.

Stop overloading teachers with administrative work like having files that are a duplication of one another. Build more schools to curb the problem of overcrowded classrooms and do away with the high ratio of teacher to learners and by doing so increase the individual attention the teacher can give to a learner in order to decrease the failure rate. Include teachers in decision making and planning. You might be surprised at what we are willing to do in order to help our learners. We actually know what needs to be done because we are in the classroom every day.

Stop humiliating principals and teachers in public because if we can't respect each other, how will our learners respect us? We have to teach them discipline and respect so tell me how is that possible when we go on national television and humiliate our educators? Who is suffering in the end? The learner!

It's time to work together and stop blaming each other! We are on a sinking ship and if we don't do something soon we will be in big trouble!

Mariska Januarie

Via the website