Hunger, sex trip up learners

ILENI NANDJATO Teenage learners are being subjected to hunger, sexual temptation and other social evils due to them having to make do with makeshift accommodation in areas far from home, where they are able to access secondary education in Oshana.This lack of formalised accommodation is being blamed for the drastic difference between grade 10 and 12 examination results in the region, because many matric learners are left to their own devices, without the supervision and discipline found in a school hostel environment.Most of the non-boarding schools are situated in towns and settlements that have dismal grade 12 results. The Oshana education directorate is now rolling out a turnaround strategy aimed at improving grade 12 examination results by taking senior secondary schools to villages where learners can to finish their secondary education under the care of their parents.The directorate has now created ten new non-boarding senior secondary schools at existing junior secondary and combined schools in villages for the implementation of the new education curriculum.Oshana education director Hileni Amukana said when the ministry implemented the new curriculum for secondary schools next year, the number of senior secondary schools in the region would increase from 14 to 25.She said this meant the region would have 18 non-boarding secondary schools.“Due to the scattered population in the region, the creation of 18 non-boarding schools represents an alarming risk for high failure rates and social disobedience.“Teenage learners have to migrate from their parents to go and continue their education and if there is no accommodation at the secondary school where they are admitted they will end up living in makeshift accommodation where they are subjected to hunger, sexual temptation and social evils,” Amukana said.She said there was likely to be a public uproar because the government was continuing to establish non-boarding senior secondary schools that were “only producing learners for the street” without hope of finding jobs.The education ministry has undertaken broad-based reforms in basic education aimed at addressing high dropout rates and improving the quality of learning.These include the abolishing of the external grade 10 junior secondary examinations by 2019. At the end of 2018 grade 9 learners will write the first junior secondary semi-external examinations, following which they will be promoted to the senior secondary phase, starting with grade 10.This will mark the start of a new, extended senior secondary phase of education, taking the form of a two-year Namibia Senior Secondary Certificate Ordinary Level (NSSCO) course.After that, grade 12 will allow learners to complete the one-year Namibia Senior Secondary Certificate Higher Level (NSSCH) course.In the grade 10 examinations Oshana is always among the best-performing regions, but its grade 12 results are among the lowest in the country.According to Amukana a lack of boarding schools is one of the reasons for this situation.At the moment the only secondary schools with hostels are Oshakati, Iipumbu, Eheke, Gabriel Taapopi, Mweshipandeka, Andimba Toivo ya Toivo and the Eluwa Special School. She also added that these are the only schools in the region that will be offering grade 12, the rest will end at grade 11.“At grade 10 level most of the learners are staying with their parents, but at grade 12 we observed that there is a serious lack of parental support. These children become vulnerable to the situation.“For example, if children complete grade 10 at Enguwantale while staying with their parents, but do not get space at boarding schools in an area where they have family, these children are forced to stay in makeshift accommodation where they are exposed to all the social evils that affect their performance,” she said.She said Erundu Combined School, which offers classes from pre-school to grade 12, is the only non-boarding school that produces good results at senior secondary level because the majority of its pupils live with their parents.She said in order to avoid this situation the region has extended the curriculum at eight junior secondary and two combined schools in rural areas to up to grade 11.The junior secondary schools are Kapembe, Olukolo, Ondangwa, Ongwediva, Nengushe, Ntuli, Mvula, Ambili and Kapolo, while the combined schools are Oshekasheka and Eloolo.“The region is therefore urging learners currently at schools that have received curriculum expansion to grade 11 to remain at their current schools instead of applying elsewhere,” she said.Amukana said the schools have enough land for building hostels, but there are no funds to do so.

Hunger, sex trip up learners

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-19

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Hunger, sex trip up learners

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Namibian Sun 2025-06-19

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