YEN Namibia

Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - Web posted at 6:47:29 GMT

The Namibian: LUQMAN CLOETE

THE growing number of children roaming the streets at the southern town of Keetmanshoop has elicited mixed responses from residents.

Residents expressed different sentiments on the issue at a community meeting held last week at the town's Westdene residential area.

Some of the residents demanded that the Police round up the street children.

"We want action instead of excuses such as a shortage of Police vans," said one resident, Cecil Vries.

But others disagreed.

Councillor Arnold Losper said the rights of streets children should be respected.

"They too have the right of free movement," he remarked.

Another resident, Maria Konjore, argued that the cause of the problem must be identified before solutions are found.

Some of the people felt that spiritual and community leaders should be involved in addressing the problem.

"The way kids grow up also plays a role when children turn into street kids," resident Frikkie Mouton remarked.

The community felt that the number of thefts committed by street children had increased.

Attempts to obtain comment from the Ministry of Child Welfare's social worker dealing with street children were fruitless.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008 - Web posted at 6:57:18 GMT

VTC students to boycott classes

DENVER ISAACS

TRAINEES at the Windhoek Vocational Training Centre (WVTC) say they are preparing to boycott classes tomorrow after complaints against the institution's management fell on deaf ears for the past two years.

The college's Trainee Representative Council (TRC) yesterday complained to the media about what they considered to be a mismanagement of funds there, and about the recent introduction of a new curriculum although infrastructure is apparently not yet up to standard and lecturers apparently not yet trained accordingly.

The students last week submitted a five-page list of grievances to the college management, which was also sent to the Office of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Education, the Namibia National Teachers' Union (Nantu) and the Namibia National Students' Organisation (Nanso).

In this letter, the trainees said they had resolved "not to proceed with our daily attending lessons" from Wednesday, unless Government intervened in the meantime.

It is understood that the Permanent Secretary in the Education Ministry, Vitalis Ankama, is scheduled to meet with the trainees today.

However, TRC president Madala Shigwetha said yesterday that they were not enthusiastic about anything they might hear from him.

"I know we won't get an answer.

They came to see us last year also, but we didn't get any answer," he said.

Among the students' complaints are that they are unable to scrutinise how management works with their money.

"As an example, we are told to pay N$2 800 as registration deposit, but in the fee structure (catalogue) that amount is said to be N$2 500.

Why this difference?" Shigwetha wanted to know.

He added that the college was regularly late in providing trainees with textbooks, and refused to refund them when they bought these books themselves, despite the fact that the fees for these books were deducted from the students' bills.

When The Namibian yesterday spoke to college principal Paulus Haukongo, he said that he was aware of the students' grievances, but not that they were planning to boycott classes.

"But if they decide on that, we'll just have to record them as absent," he said.

Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - Web posted at 6:48:56 GMT

The Namibian: BRIGITTE WEIDLICH

The allocations to education in the 2008-09 Budget were welcome but would not solve Namibia's education crisis, a member of the opposition said yesterday.

Tsudao Gurirab of the CoD group led by Ben Ulenga, the first speaker in the Budget debate, said he supported the education reform Government had embarked on.

"Parents, children, churches - almost everybody knew that our education system did not deliver, but no, this Government needed foreign consultants (from the World Bank) to tell them," Gurirab criticised.

The CoD welcomed the latest Government announcement to allow failed Grade 10 pupils to repeat this year, which Gurirab described as "efforts being made to reverse the ludicrous Grade 10 policy which has been responsible for cutting short the opportunities of so many sixteen- to seventeen-year-olds".

"I know of no country which has acted as irresponsibly in this regard with the future of their youth," Gurirab charged.

However, young Namibians faced another scourge: increasing numbers of young children orphaned and not being able to afford school fees.

"About 12 per cent of Namibian children below 15 years have lost one or both parents.

If this trend continues, 30 per cent of our child population or 10 per cent of Namibia's total population will most likely be orphans in a few years," Gurirab added.

"The harvest of the last 18 years, over which this Government presided, increased income inequality.

[We have] a society which is marginally more sick, where more children die at birth or are malnourished with a dysfunctional education system.

So much for this Government's pro-poor policies," Gurirab stated.

With unemployment still high at 36 per cent, the CoD MP continued, it had become clear that Government policies had failed to empower its citizens.

Land reform did not bring the necessary results; neither did the agricultural Green Scheme show any success in his view.

"We must employ measures which will help Namibians to help themselves," Gurirab said in his contribution to the budget debate.

Tuesday, March 18, 2008 - Web posted at 6:45:08 GMT

The Namibian: STAFF REPORTER

THE Namibian College of Open Learning (Namcol) has announced increased contact sessions - face-to-face tuition - as it starts implementing a recent directive issued by Education Minister Nangolo Mbumba.

Countrywide enrolment started yesterday and will end tomorrow.

Namcol spokesperson Rholene Bok also announced that the college has started registering pupils who did not qualify for admission to Grade 11 this year and who would like to repeat subjects.

Mbumba has announced that the Ministry had set aside N$340 million for repeaters .

Bok said students must pay N$100 per subject in addition to the non-refundable N$40 registration fee.

"Those who had registered before the Ministry's directive will get a rebate of N$7 per subject before the end of April through the head of (regional) centre," Bok said.

All enrolments in Windhoek will take place at the Yetu Yama Centre.