By: Anton Mbinge
Political analyst Ndumba Kamwanyah said that the crisis in the education system is caused by the lack of evidence-based solutions as well as lack of assurance whether the recommendations proposed will address the problems the sector is currently experiencing.
Kamwanyah stated that the ministry officials tend to implement policies they assume will bring change without conducting thorough research.
Kamwanya made these during the Landless People’s Movement ( LPM) planning retreat conference last Friday.
Kamwanyah also stated that the recommendations in the report on the outcome of the meeting between the top leadership of the Ministry of Education with President Hage Geingob lacks potential to solve the current challenges facing the education sector.
Kamwanyah stated that the education officials must prioritise research to validate policy solutions.
“That outcome when I looked at what they listed, there is no shred of evidence that it will solve our educational problem. I think we need to move towards doing research so that we can base our policy solutions on evidence in terms of what will work and what will not work. I think that is where we have gone wrong, in the sense that we tend to implement things that we think will work but they are in actual reality not contributing to the solution of what we are trying to solve,” stated Kamwanyah.
The Ministry of Education, Arts, and Culture Executive director, Sanet Steenkamp, responded to Kamwanyah’s remarks, stating that the ministry has not neglected its mandate.
“That for me, is purely an opinion and we as the ministry of education, arts, and culture have never neglected our mandate or duties. As a political analyst, he is free to contact me and get the context of what his Excellency is saying. I would be very interested to hear on which basis the political analyst is making (his statements). It does not help that I make a comment, if he does not give any supportive evidence or facts as to what he based his opinion on,” remarked Steenkamp.
In addition, the Trade Union Congress of Namibia (TUCNA) and Student Union of Namibia (SUN) are among stakeholders that have raised concerns over the 2022 poor examination results and status of the education sector.
Only a total of 8 133 learners (21.4%) out of 38 019 candidated who sat for the Namibia Senior Secondary Certificate Ordinary level examination qualified for tertiary education.
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