Daily walk of terror

Unlike school children in urban areas who are privileged to walk a few metres or kilometres to their nearest school, some pupils in the Oshikoto Region have to walk extremely long distances to attend classes. A group of children from the Okoloti and Cham-Cham settlements outside Oshivelo in the Oshikoto Region walk at least 20km to and from King Kauluma Combined School on a daily basis. The long distance has a huge toll on their performance as they missed out at least on the first three morning lessons due to their late arrival. King Kauluma Combined School principal Edward Akawa confirmed the learners arrive at school sometimes at 11:00. The children are forced to endure the long walk daily because their local communities do not offer secondary education. The majority of learners upon completion of Grade 4 or 3 at Hedimbi, Shikesho, Twapandula and Cham-Cham have no other option but to continue their education at the nearest senior school, which is 20km away. The parents have also no other choice but to do everything possible to keep their children in school. When they reach Grade 10, some parents make an effort get their children accommodation at nearby homesteads for them to focus on their studies. Akawa admitted that the children were faced with unfavourable conditions. “Here the situation is very harsh for these learners. We start school at 07:45 and they are always late,” he said. “There is no way they can walk 20km to get to school on time. “Those coming from Cham-Cham are better because on their lucky days they get Good Samaritans who offer them transportation on the Omuthiya-Oshivelo road.” Waking up at 04:00Namibian Sun managed to track down some of the learners last week. The learners usually leave their homes just after 04:00 and return late in the afternoon. According to 16-year-old Andreas Joseph, he wakes up every morning at 04:00 to prepare for the long walk to King Kauluma Combined School. Classes at King Kauluma start at 07:15. He said this was their daily routine no matter the weather. “First we stop at the road and try to get free transport from motorists who are driving past. If we don't succeed we start footing to school. Our aim is not really to get to school on time, but simply to get to school. Most of the days we don't get transport and we often reach school at 10:00 or 11:00,” said the Grade 6 learner. Another learner Atanasius Aune, 15, who is also in Grade 6, said despite their well-known walking challenges, the teachers still punish them for arriving late. A parent, Hilka Johannes, said that these children leave their homes in the early morning hours and return in the late afternoon. “Every day or every year they spend most of their times walking to and from schools,” Johannes said. There is also the fear of wild animals roaming around in the area as it is alongside the Etosha National Park. “Our parents told us always to walk in groups as they fear wild animals from Etosha might attack us. We are appealing to road users to assist us as our parents can't afford giving us transport money,” Joseph said. The education inspector for Oshivelo Circuit, Gotlieb Shikongo, said the ministry was aware of the long distances covered by the learners. “I am aware of the situation. The problem we a have is the population at these communities. These communities do not have enough population of learners for government to build for them schools. It is better we have one school that can accommodate them. That is why they are walking long distances,” Shikongo said. He said schools like Hedimbi, Shikesho, Twapandula and Cham-Cham have a population of less than 200 learners from pre-primary to Grade 4. He also added that there was a plan to construct a boarding school in the area, but due to a lack of funds, the project has been put on hold. Shikongo, however, encouraged parents to continue waking up learners early enough for them to get to school on time. ILENI NANDJATO

Daily walk of terror

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-16

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Daily walk of terror

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Namibian Sun 2025-05-16

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