Tent classrooms still common

As with many schools across the country, the Mount-View High School in the Babylon informal settlement of Windhoek teach Grade 8 and 9 learners in tents but they say they are not daunted by the scarcity of infrastructure. Opened in 2015, Mount-View offers tuition from Grade 8 to 10, but its Grade 8 and 9 learners have no classrooms. The school has 350 pupils and 15 teachers. Speaking to Namibian Sun, the school's principal Brian Ndabeni said that when the school opened in 2015 there were no constructed classrooms. The situation has improved somewhat with a few classrooms built last year. “The government is doing its best to help us and this is evident by the few structures that have been built for our learners. Construction is on-going,” said Ndabeni.He explained that there are a number of challenges that come with teaching in tents pointing out that it is difficult for teacher to make use of teaching aids like projectors as the tents do not have electricity. “It is not conducive to use tents as classrooms as they are very cold during winter and very hot during the summer season which impedes teaching.”Despite these challenges, Ndabeni maintains that the situation has not affected the performance and attendance of the learners at the school. “The performance and attendance of our learners is impressive,” he said. Ndabeni added that although the environment is not conducive for teaching it has also not demoralised teachers at the school as they give their all despite these challenges. “I use a storeroom as my office but despite this I am still proud to serve at this school and so are the teachers. We understand that it is not an office that will make us better people, it is the value we add to the lives of these learners that makes us better people,” Ndabeni said.He maintains that the private sector has been very helpful. “The school management sent out letters of request to various companies and organisations for assistance and the response has been positive,” he said. In June this year the school received a donation of 25 computers from the Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (Tika).MICHAEL KAYUNDE

Tent classrooms still common

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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Tent classrooms still common

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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