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Feature: Namibia education ministry transforms tents into classrooms

Xinhua, January 13, 2017 Adjust font size:

To ensure all learners are enrolled into formal schools and address lack of learning space, Namibia's Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture is holding lessons under tents in Namibian Capital, Windhoek.

It was 10:30 on a Thursday and the sun was at its peak. At Tobias Hainyeko Project School on the outskirts of Windhoek, learners sit in tents for their second day at school.

"We have been teaching in tents upon establishment of the pilot phase of the school," said School Principal, Brian Nabeni.

According to Nabeni, teaching in tents maybe challenging but they strive to maximize on facilities available. "We cannot wait for the conditions to be right for education to take place to groom the future generation," he said.

As part of its pilot phase, the Tobias Hainyeko Project School first had 12 tents erected on a sport field in 2015, and another 12 were added in 2016.

As government battles with a lack of educational infrastructure to accommodate a huge influx of learners, tent schools has become a solution.

"As Khomas region population grows and faces a high influx of migrants, the Ministry seeks alternate infrastructure, tents in this case, to accommodate learners," said Gerard Vries, Director of Education, Arts and Culture in the Khomas region.

With rural-urban migration, the number of Windhoek residents have increased, especially in the informal settlements. Of the 325,858 people living in Windhoek, over 110,000 are living in informal settlements, with an estimated close to 100,000 living in wood and zinc structures in Havana informal settlement alone, according to recent records by Namibia Statistics Agency.

According to Vries, the Ministry thus resorts to tents as first aid. "The tents are erected at project schools, which temporarily run while we await for the construction and development of permanent school structure," said Vries.

Faced with a dire infrastructural development need, the Namibian government has since prioritized educational infrastructural development in its efforts to curb the shortage and enhance the provision of inclusive quality education, said Deputy Minister, Ester Anna Nghipondoka on Thursday.

"We prioritized the transformation of tent lessons into permanent structure, hence you see construction of the class block has commences on one part of the school, while teaching continues on the other side of the site to ensure continues learning," said the Deputy Minister during a site visit to the school on Thursday.

Construction of 24 classrooms has since commenced in 2016 at Tobias Hainyeko Project School. The school is not alone.

At Otjomuise residential area in the capital, the first phase of the construction of eight classrooms at Westmont High School was been completed.

School Principal Brian Pieterse said that his school was just transformed from tent to a permanent structure. "I am very happy and pleased that the government availed funds for the construction of the school. We no longer have to offer lessons in tents," said Pieterse.

Plans are underway, according to Nghipondoka to transform more schools into permanent fully fledged schools. "This include the Havana Secondary Project School in the Moses Garoeb Constituency where 12 tents were erected. The Ministry has also secured land of Farm 506 for the construction of schools," Nghipondika added.

Meanwhile, local leadership is advocating for provision of education to its community. Martin David, Constituency Councilor of Moses Garoeb said that there is a demand for educational facilities, as numbers of dwellers in his area keeps swelling.

"I am pleased that the government has provided tents and are with time transforming the tent schools into permanent structure. This will solve the problem of out of school children in the Havana informal settlement," David said.

In the interim, to fast track the construction of the school, "the Ministry decentralized the governance of capital projects to the regional offices. This is to expedite service delivery and infrastructure development," said Nghipondoka.

During the 2016/17 fiscal year, the Ministry allocated 838 million Namibian dollars (62 million U.S. dollars) for its development budget, meaning that 6.6 percent of the total budget was for capital expenditure. Endit