Learners wait for textbooks
The government has urged schools to use their Universal Primary Education (UPE) funds to buy stationery while waiting for the government to finalise its distribution run.
According to Khomas regional education director Gerard Vries, the distribution of stationery and textbooks is in full swing with two circuits in the region already completed.
He attributes the slow pace of distribution to a sudden increase in enrolment after the scrapping of school fees last year.
According to him money (N$20 per learner) was transferred to school accounts last week for buying additional books.
“They also have the UPE of which I am fully aware because I have seen their audited reports. This money they can use to buy stationery and equipment,” he said.
Under the UPE an amount of N$400 is allocated per learner per year. The money is paid to schools in three transfers.
This follows an outcry by schools countrywide that are still waiting for the government to deliver textbooks and stationery, which has rendered them unable to teach.
According to Delta Secondary School principal Angelika Jacobie, the school is still waiting for some textbooks and stationery.
“How can we teach without a textbook, especially if we give learners homework?” she asked.
Jacobie also defended a unanimous decision by parents at the school to continue making a monthly contribution of N$440 despite the abolition of school fees.
According to her no one is forced to pay. The school, which asked an average school fee of N$1 500 in the past, has enrolled a number of learners who could not afford school fees at all.
The chairman of the school board, Patrick Mouton, confirmed the decision that was made on Tuesday evening during a parents’ meeting.
“No one is obligated to pay if they cannot pay. Parents voluntary offered to continue paying because we realise that we have an infrastructure which cannot be maintained with the N$500 000 subsidies from government,” said Mouton.
He too regretted the fact that learners are still waiting for textbooks to arrive.
According to a head of department at Kizito College in the Zambezi Region, Albert Liswaniso, they too haven’t been able to start teaching.
“We have not received a single exercise book, how do we assess learners if they have nowhere to write,” he said, adding that the school had submitted its books and stationery order last year already.
“We have asked some teachers, only those who can afford, to assist by buying some exercise books,” he said.
The government abolished secondary school fees in March 2014. Former President Hifikepunye Pohamba said no one should have the excuse that they could not send their children to school because there was no money.
JEMIMA BEUKES
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