Africa-Press – Namibia. THE just-ended national conference on education has recommended that the government establish a law which compels companies to pay their dues to the education system.
The conference wants a Corporate Social Investment (CSI) Act established.
Companies currently have their own corporate social responsibility policies to contribute to society, targeting different areas.
Executive director of education, arts and culture Sanet Steenkamp on Friday identified the CSI Act as one of four transforming initiatives of the education system.
“Introduce a National CSI Act and a cost-sharing model to strengthen private and community inputs into education,” she said.
Steenkamp, who was reading out all the final recommendations, said funding is the limiting factor in most aspects of delivery and the functioning of the education system.
The conference specifically highlighted that technology companies have to ensure all schools have digital access.
FUNDING CRISIS
A regional heritage officer in the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture, Agnes Shiningayamwe, during the conference called on the government to rethink the country’s free education.
“There is a need for the government to revisit the concept of free education, which is currently misinterpreted and misunderstood,” she said.
Shiningayamwe suggested that the government allocate fishing quotas, mining licences and other resources to contribute to education funding.
She said there is low investment in pre-primary and early grade education, meaning a weak foundation is laid.
This would likely lead to poor outcomes in later learning and schooling, she said.
“Little is spent on ensuring quality education. Only 3% goes to pre-primary education, which is an indication that pupils start off with a weak foundation,” Shiningayamwe said.
Merely 16% of the education budget caters for learning material and infrastructure development, while 84% of the education budget goes towards salaries.
Similarly, the regional United Nations International Children’s Fund (Unicef) education adviser for eastern and southern Africa, Abhiyan Jung Rana, said the Namibian government’s spending on education as a percentage of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) was reported to be 9,6% in 2021.
This is higher than in most countries in the region, but a slight decrease of 0,5% in budget allocation by the education ministry has been observed for the 2022 school year compared to 2021, he said.
“Education funding continues to fall desperately short. Globally, countries allocated on average 3% of their Covid-19 stimulus packages to education. Countries in the region are far from allocating at least 20% of their public expenditure to education,” Rana said.
He agrees with the World Bank that countries need to step up investment in education and ensure efficient use of the resources available.
“Unicef will continue to support countries in undertaking comprehensive national fiscal analysis, building national capacity, developing advocacy tools to influence budget, and ensuring efficient and equitable allocations,” he said.
Rana said in Namibia, there is a continuous formative assessment during school terms, and at the end of each term, carried out at national level, it helps to address the learning needs of individual and groups of pupils and improves their competence.
“The country is also nationally implementing the rationalised curriculum focusing on competencies, as well as the holistic development of the child,” he said.
OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS
Steenkamp said a national census is needed urgently because the ministry needs to know how many children with disabilities are in the country.
The national census, which was set for this year, was called off after the government indicated it has no funds to cater for it.
The conference also recognised that teacher training needs have to be reconceptualised, with the basic education ministry working with higher education institutions to set teaching practice arrangements.
“A review is needed of how teachers are trained for specific subjects, and then how they are deployed.
“The Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture needs the Ministry of Higher Education, Training and Innovation, and higher education institutions to align teacher production with school needs,” she said.
Teachers also need in-service training to build their digital literacy skills, Steenkamp said.
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