Forgotten schools left to rot
Education authorities surely have their work cut out for them because there is not only an urge to ensure a better and improved system, but serious attention is equally needed to tackle the overwhelming and enormous challenges so many schools still face. Boarding schools in particular found themselves in depressing conditions and the state of some of these institutions can only be described as pathetic. In today's edition, we carry on our front page a disheartening story about the run-down state of a primary school hostel in the Kunene Region. The Frans Frederick Primary School hostel is in a serious mess with dilapidated buildings, with roofs almost falling down and with no windows, among a potpourri of problems.
This school, like many other forgotten ones countrywide, has been pleading with the authorities for a number of years to remedy the situation, but nothing solid has been done to date. The school principal has confirmed that many learners are forced to sleep on spring beds without mattresses ever since the government stopped supplying the school due to tender issues for the past three years or so.
The learners now depend on parents and sometimes Good Samaritans for better accommodation. But this is mostly not the case as poor parents can't afford to keep up with the supplies. The story of dilapidated structures is almost the same in most of the public schools especially in the rural areas. It is a real eyesore with any imaginable infrastructural deterioration you could possible think of.
The authorities must realise the inherent right of providing access and equity to basic education for the Namibian child. And this must take place in a conducive environment devoid of both physical intimidation and emotional frustration.
Do we really expect learners to perform optimally if they sleep in structures with cracked walls, leaking roofs and stinking toilets from hell? We can ill afford a ruinous education infrastructure of broken windows and run-down facilities. The authorities must quickly act on this highly embarrassing situation.
This school, like many other forgotten ones countrywide, has been pleading with the authorities for a number of years to remedy the situation, but nothing solid has been done to date. The school principal has confirmed that many learners are forced to sleep on spring beds without mattresses ever since the government stopped supplying the school due to tender issues for the past three years or so.
The learners now depend on parents and sometimes Good Samaritans for better accommodation. But this is mostly not the case as poor parents can't afford to keep up with the supplies. The story of dilapidated structures is almost the same in most of the public schools especially in the rural areas. It is a real eyesore with any imaginable infrastructural deterioration you could possible think of.
The authorities must realise the inherent right of providing access and equity to basic education for the Namibian child. And this must take place in a conducive environment devoid of both physical intimidation and emotional frustration.
Do we really expect learners to perform optimally if they sleep in structures with cracked walls, leaking roofs and stinking toilets from hell? We can ill afford a ruinous education infrastructure of broken windows and run-down facilities. The authorities must quickly act on this highly embarrassing situation.
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