New name for Etakaya

Justicia Shipena Etakaya Primary School, situated at Etakaya village of Etakaya in the Ohangwena Region, was recently renamed Sakaria H Nghikembua Primary School.The school accommodates 142 learners from the grades zero to seven, with two permanent classrooms.The rest are makeshift classrooms made with zinc roofs and traditional poles. The school has a total of seven teachers, inclusive of the principal.During the renaming ceremony various corporates announced sponsorships for the school. The Development Bank of Namibia will make available N$350 000 for the building of a classroom block to be called the DBN block, while Metropolitan Swabou announced a sponsorship of N$156 000 to bring electricity to the school.Standard Bank will make available N$50 000 for fencing the school, while the FirstRand Foundation, through First National Bank (FNB), made available a sponsorship worth N$55 600 for school stationery, two water-purifying containers and 20 refurbished computers. Together with contributions from individuals and those present at the ceremony, a total of N$630 000 was raised for the school.Deputy education minister Ester Anna Nghipondoka said the sponsorships have the potential impact to the school’s academic progress, which should grow to be closely aligned with Sakaria Nghikembua’s lifelong commitment of uplifting and empowering fellow Namibians and forging a spirit of care and support, togetherness and teamwork. Nghipondoka added that the education ministry has an initiative called the Friends of Education in Namibia Special Initiative (FENSI). This initiative aims to advocate and garner support in various forms towards education, arts and culture from various stakeholders in their various forms and capacities. “The ministry faces a backlog of challenges that government alone will not be able to solve in a short period of time, especially given our current economic difficulties that we as a nation are faced with,” she said.She further stressed that FENSI is an education support basket into which the numerous “Friends of Education” pledge various forms of support, which will assist the ministry to attend to and solve the numerous challenges that the basic education is facing without being stalled by government administrative bottlenecks School principal Junias Nghishoongele said the idea to rename the school came from a parent at a parents’ meeting five years ago. “Since then, the school has been busy with the various procedures involved in the renaming process, culminating in approval of the name change towards the end of last year,” he said.Nghishoongele added that in renaming the school they looked for someone who could serve as an inspiration to both learners and teachers; and who could also advise the school on how it could improve to enhance the quality of teaching and learning, thus Sakaria Nghikembua emerged as the natural choice amongst the many that were considered.Nghikembua touched on the value of education in development.He urged parents to take an interest in their children’s education by asking them about what they were taught at school, giving them time to do their homework and study for tests at home and by keeping in touch with teachers to find out how they are doing.

New name for Etakaya

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Namibian Sun 2026-01-01

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New name for Etakaya

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Namibian Sun 2026-01-01

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