Despite the fact that many schools still deal with utilities, President Hage Geingob has committed to increasing access to digital technology in education.
Last week, the education ministry told parliamentarians 33% of schools in the country have no access to electricity and 77% have no access to continuous information communication technology (ICT).
“Namibia is committed to transformative leadership, ensuring access to inclusive digital technologies and developing a strategy for innovative financing and resource mobilisation,” Geingob said while speaking at the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday evening.
Patrick Simalumba, a director within the education ministry, said that the government should maintain, repair, and upgrade the existing ICT infrastructure in schools with connectivity.
“There are cost differences in Wi-Fi connectivity between suppliers and pricing between new and old installations (schools with/without connectivity),” he said about the current ICT situation within schools.
He stressed that schools must budget for new technology and hardware if they want to be able to access ICT education.
Currently, financing is not easy in this sector.
The president stated that the government will also be looking at innovative financing, which was one the main points of the recent education summit.
“The Namibian government offers free primary and secondary education,which demonstrates our commitment to prioritising and expanding access to education for all,” Geingob said.
“Over the past few months, it has been encouraging to note the concerted efforts to shed a spotlight on transforming education and advancing SDG 4.
Education is a sector that Namibia has consistently prioritised through the allocation of resources, both human and financial, and the consistent prioritisation of policy development,” he said.
Abhiyan Rana, the United Nations education specialist, and Agnes Shiningayamwe the regional heritage officer in government’s education ministry, both reiterated the fact that the current funding model for the sector is inadequate.
The consensus was that the pre-primary education system is not investing enough in early grades and pre-primary education. This will lead to weak foundations which will likely result in poor schooling outcomes.
However, unions have claimed that the government is not focused enough on the daily struggles for teachers and pupils.
Mahongora Kavihuha from the Teachers Union of Namibia stated that the country is experiencing overcrowding in its classrooms and that government policies are not aligned with the curriculum.
“The staffing norms, with the number of learners vs the numbers of teachers do not take the curriculum or the subjects at the school into consideration,” he said.
ICT TECHNOLOGY
Geingob stated that Namibia is well-suited to change Namibia’s digital transformation landscape, and to narrowing the digital divide in the fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR).
“We are proud of the recent landing of the Google Equiano subsea cable… in line with our commitment to leverage the 4IR,” Geingob said.
The government is currently working on a consolidated national 4IR strategy that will provide direction and multi-sectoral planning.
“The strategy will prioritise education reform to close the 4IR skills gap, cybersecurity and the expansion of ICT infrastructure and services,” he said.
This was one recommendation from the presidential 4IR taskforce.
Source: namibian
