Tsumkwe pupils don't know Pohamba

On his latest surprise visit - this time to a Tsumkwe school - Education Minister David Namwandi yesterday uncovered shocking details at Omatako Primary School, where teachers and learners use the bush when nature calls, among a host of issues.
Shockingly, some pupils don't know who the president of the country is, while others so not even know in which region their school is situated, with one Grade 5 learner saying it was the “Omatako Region”.
Namwandi arrived unannounced at the school yesterday morning and, to his shock, found that the school has no functional toilets, while learners sleep in dormitories that resemble a shelled, vacated army base.
The irony perhaps is that the school is indeed housed in buildings that were once a military base of the South African colonial forces.
The school, situated 160 km east of Grootfontein, was also at pains to account for several items donated to it by Good Samaritans, including money raised from fundraising activities.
Animals such as donkeys and cattle fill the premises of the school, where they and 3 500 residents of the nearby settlement compete for water at the school borehole - the only one functioning in the area.
The only other borehole has been out of order for months, the minister was told.
The hostels, which houses 160 children, are without windows and have dusty, sandy floors.
A contractor who was tasked to renovate the hostels left months ago, apparently citing lack of adequate building materials.
Consequently, it is the learners who are compromised in the process as they are left at the mercy of heavy rains in summer and cold weather in winter.
“This is not good. It hurts my heart to see that this is how learners live during winter and rainy seasons,” Namwandi said.
The impact of these conditions on children was blatantly clear, as only a handful seemed to be able to concentrate on the lessons they receive at a school that offers pre-primary classes until Grade 7.
Namwandi could not contain his shock when he discovered that the majority of learners in Grade 4 did not know who the country's president is, while a Grade 5 learner answered that his school is in the “Omatako Region” - a region that does not exist on the Namibian map.
Omatako Primary School is in the Otjozondjupa Region, a name that sounded alien to many of the learners at the school.
“I am horrified that Grade 4 learners do not know the basics, such as who the country's president is,” a clearly irritated Namwandi said.
“There is no one I can blame but the leadership of the school.”
The fact that learners are struggling with the basics is hardly surprising, especially in the wake of revelations that punctuality is allegedly not adhered to by the school principal, his 11 teachers and the pupils.
“Children live by the mercy of the Almighty,” Namwandi remarked.
The minister did not mince his words to school principal Deon Louw, whom he told to get his house in order.
“I want you to rectify the issues at your school.”
Namwandi's visit to the school was in reaction to a letter written to him by the teachers at the school, who accused Louw – who has been at the school for 26 years - and the school board of running the school as if it were their personal fiefdom.

TSUMKWE SELMA IKELA