PDM criticises classroom shortage
Opposition MP Nico Smit has slammed the government's “ingenious excuses” for the failures of the public education system.
The Popular Democratic Movement (PDM) has lashed out at the education ministry for its poor planning and accused the government of introducing free education to “buy” votes from the poor.
The statement issued by PDM treasurer-general and parliamentarian Nico Smit followed remarks made by education minister Katrina Hanse-Himarwa recently regarding challenges faced by the public education sector.
According to Smit, the minister identified the lack of space in schools and a shortage of school hostels as problems facing the sector.
He said this indicated the minister's complete miscomprehension of the issues plaguing public education in Namibia.
He said the lack of space in schools and the shortage of hostels were rather consequences of a deeper problem that was not only within the education ministry, but across the entire government.
He said the PDM believed that for a minister to say that public schools would not have enough space to accommodate all learners in the coming academic year was an admission of failure on the part of the government.
“Every year countless Namibians must delay the start of their children's education because of the outright incompetence of and incorrect prioritisation by the Swapo government,” he said.
According to Smit, this is unsustainable, and if not rectified immediately it will severely compromise any effort at socio-economic advancement for Namibians.
“It is surely not rocket science for a competent education ministry to use the endless learner numbers it demands from all schools at the start of every school year to predict the number of school places that will be required throughout the country for the next five years - ask any half-competent statistician to help if the ministry has no-one suitable to do this. After almost 30 years this simple exercise is surely not too much to expect from this government,” said Smit.
He said when the minister pointed to a lack of sufficient spaces in schools and a lack of hostels as problems facing public education, one must begin to question the planning process within the ministry.
“How else could one explain the abysmal return on investment of public funds that are allocated to the education ministry on an annual basis? Where planning is poor or neglected in the workflow process, implementation and monitoring and evaluation are likely to suffer as well. This is a basic and easily understandable idea yet it seems that those in the top echelons of government are oblivious to this.”
According to Smit the government's failure to deliver an effective solution to the total collapse of public education in Namibia for close to three decades was evidence that the government simply did not understand, let alone know how to solve this problem of their own making.
“Hanse-Himarwa is the last in a long line of Swapo leaders who has succeeded only in producing spectacular failures and the most ingenious of excuses for these failures in public education in Namibia.”
ELLANIE SMIT
The statement issued by PDM treasurer-general and parliamentarian Nico Smit followed remarks made by education minister Katrina Hanse-Himarwa recently regarding challenges faced by the public education sector.
According to Smit, the minister identified the lack of space in schools and a shortage of school hostels as problems facing the sector.
He said this indicated the minister's complete miscomprehension of the issues plaguing public education in Namibia.
He said the lack of space in schools and the shortage of hostels were rather consequences of a deeper problem that was not only within the education ministry, but across the entire government.
He said the PDM believed that for a minister to say that public schools would not have enough space to accommodate all learners in the coming academic year was an admission of failure on the part of the government.
“Every year countless Namibians must delay the start of their children's education because of the outright incompetence of and incorrect prioritisation by the Swapo government,” he said.
According to Smit, this is unsustainable, and if not rectified immediately it will severely compromise any effort at socio-economic advancement for Namibians.
“It is surely not rocket science for a competent education ministry to use the endless learner numbers it demands from all schools at the start of every school year to predict the number of school places that will be required throughout the country for the next five years - ask any half-competent statistician to help if the ministry has no-one suitable to do this. After almost 30 years this simple exercise is surely not too much to expect from this government,” said Smit.
He said when the minister pointed to a lack of sufficient spaces in schools and a lack of hostels as problems facing public education, one must begin to question the planning process within the ministry.
“How else could one explain the abysmal return on investment of public funds that are allocated to the education ministry on an annual basis? Where planning is poor or neglected in the workflow process, implementation and monitoring and evaluation are likely to suffer as well. This is a basic and easily understandable idea yet it seems that those in the top echelons of government are oblivious to this.”
According to Smit the government's failure to deliver an effective solution to the total collapse of public education in Namibia for close to three decades was evidence that the government simply did not understand, let alone know how to solve this problem of their own making.
“Hanse-Himarwa is the last in a long line of Swapo leaders who has succeeded only in producing spectacular failures and the most ingenious of excuses for these failures in public education in Namibia.”
ELLANIE SMIT
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