Building a brighter future for Namibian children

Because of Covid-19, the Namibian education sector, which is among the main barometers of any society’s equitability, has been pushed to extents never seen before.Due to limited accessibility to online or distance learning platforms, the school closures not only disrupted children’s mode of learning for two years, but have caused a delay in their overall educational, social and physical development.This inspired the idea to distribute educational material in the form of work books across the country. A collaboration was formed between the ministry of education, arts and culture and Namibia Media Holdings (NMH), and the African Child Development Trust (ACDT) was formed.ACDT trustee and project coordinator Sharnay Botha elaborated on the pandemic’s local impact on learning: “The pandemic is still affecting schools across the country, and there is a definite ripple effect of the 2020/2021 school closures.“Children’s foundational education has been disrupted causing a two-year delay in their education.“Long-standing negative effects on children will be felt for generations to come and will worsen already existing inequalities and vulnerabilities for children in low-income parts of the country.”The African Child Development Trust was established to assist in the overall educational, physical, social and psychological development of children in Africa.The Trust focuses on running various projects and programmes that further the development of children in a sustainable manner.Weekly bookletsThe Education project is the first project to be launched through the ACDT. With the support of various stakeholders, the ACDT runs the most extensive education project the country has ever seen.Weekly, 360 000 children in all 14 regions of Namibia receive a printed educational workbook in their home language.The project targets 12 different languages, including sign language. An online platform is also available with daily online school lessons for pre-primary to Grade 3 learners.To date over 12 million books have been printed and distributed across Namibia. All this for only N$2.50 per child per week.With the education project still needed for the foreseeable future, more stakeholders are needed to assist with the costs of this momentous operation.On 17 March 2022, the ACDT and 2022 Education project will be officially launched. We are calling on partners and stakeholders to share the responsibility to ensure education is a reality.For more information and to get involved, kindly email sharnay@nmh.com.na.

Building a brighter future for Namibian children

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Namibian Sun 2022-05-29

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Building a brighter future for Namibian children

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Namibian Sun 2022-05-29

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