Parents asked to fund guards for remote schools

Logistical and financial constraints have left schools in remote parts of the country vulnerable to crime, prompting school boards to turn to parents for funds to secure private security services.

Although the education ministry has a policy of providing security at some schools, geographical isolation, high costs and limited interest from private security companies continue to pose challenges.

Oshikoto education director Hilma Nuunyango-George said the ministry’s inability to station guards at every school is not due to discrimination or a lack of commitment, but reflects constraints in the local market.

"We have some schools that are very deeply rural. In those areas, we simply do not have security companies," Nuunyango-George explained.

She added that even when the directorate seeks to procure services, private security firms often decline.

"The cost becomes higher, and even if you were to put up an alarm, some of the companies don't want to [respond]. If there is a break-in, they are unwilling to drive from Ondangwa, Omuthiya, or Tsumeb to reach a school in the deep rural interior," she said.

The director emphasised that even existing technology has its limits.

While the ministry has installed alarm systems in various schools, their effectiveness is rendered null if the response time is measured in hours rather than minutes due to distance.

Guardian contributions

To reduce the risk of theft and vandalism, several schools have turned to community caretakers to monitor their premises.

However, because the ministry has no formal post for security-focused caretakers, these individuals cannot be placed on the government payroll.

"We don’t have such a post in the ministry for security services. The caretaker post exists, but not for security duties," Nuunyango-George clarified.

This has led some schools to request financial contributions from parents to pay local guards, a practice some parents have criticised.

"It is not compulsory," Nuunyango-George explained.

"It is a school arrangement where they sit with the parents and decide such. It is not a ministerial or directorate issue; it is a local decision based on the availability of funds and the locality of the school," she said.

Risk assessments

Last week, education minister Sanet Steenkamp confirmed that schools are provided with security services where feasible.

Under standard ministerial arrangements, she added, a school is typically provided with at least two guards, one for the day shift and another for the night shift.

Nuunyango-George said the ministry allocates security guards where there is a documented high risk of break-ins, but that remoteness remains a key challenge.

She added that the directorate views the protection of school property as a shared responsibility.

While the government manages the procurement of security services in urban and semi-urban areas, schools in deep rural locations are harder to provide for.

"It is not that the ministry is not willing," Nuunyango-George stressed.

"It is the issue of the availability of companies to render the service in those specific locations."

She added that until private security companies expand their coverage or the ministry establishes dedicated rural security posts, the responsibility for protecting schools is likely to remain a shared effort between schools and their local communities.

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