Education has become a commercialized process

Tashiya – ‘A furious parent’ writes

FOUR days before the 21st Independence anniversary, my three primary school kids returned from school with official letters, addressed to the parents/guardians, which read:

“RE: INDEPENDENCE DAY; Please be informed that the school will be celebrating Independence Day on Friday 18 March. The learners are hereby requested to put on their cultural attires on the abovementioned day. Learners with cultural attires will pay N$2 and ones without will have to pay an amount N$3 each”.

Having gone through the three letters which contained exactly the same message, I tried in vain to explain to them that I can neither afford the traditional attires nor pay N$9 (N$3.00x3).

They all protested with only one condition to me, as a parent, that “We will not go to school without the attires or money, then!” My frustration and pain was that if my children did not attend the Friday’s classes, they will miss out all important lessons, including the class tests. I put myself in the position of a parent who cannot even afford a “school development fund” or a school fee.

I put myself in the shoes of a widow/a guardian orphan/an unemployed mother who has no income 21 years after Independence. The citizens of this country are made to believe that “Primary Education in Namibia is free of charge” as per Article 20 of the Namibian Constitution.

This clearly shows that education is no more a right but a privilege of a few rich even in public schools. We receive many letters from schools demanding that we pay N$50/100 or so to schools. Do we forget that 51,2% of employable Namibians are unemployed? Education has been hijacked and commercialized in this country. In fact what is this money used for?

Why using ‘Independence Celebration’, ‘braai’, ‘Valentines Day’ or ‘a fundraising’ as an excuse to justify exploiting money from the already poor? We are already paying computer lessons which was neglected and overlooked by the system. We are buying the learners’ materials and pay the ‘School Development Fund’.

Can the Minister of Education make sure that what he says in public is what is happening at schools? If he wants every kid to complete his/her studies, then it starts with eliminating financial barriers. Principals are finding themselves in an awkward situation when it comes to finance.

On the one hand, they are told not to prevent any learner from school if they cannot afford to pay the school fund, but, on the other hand, they are expected to lift their schools to high standard. All that needs money which the Ministry and Government are failing to provide. What happened to N$85 million given to the Ministry of Education in or around October 2010?

I am terribly disturbed by the money-guzzling attitude in our education system. And this charging of learners for wearing a uniform did not only devalue the purpose of wearing it, but criminalise it too. If Primary Education is not “free of charge”, let the Minister say so!