Africa-Press – Namibia. POPULAR Democratic Movement (PDM) leader McHenry Venaani says while the Namibian education system has achieved quantity by getting many children into the main education stream, quality education has been compromised.
Venaani said the education system has failed pupils through offering a curriculum that does not respond to modern challenges.
He was contributing to the resumption of debate on the current education crisis in parliament this week, introduced two weeks ago by Landless People’s Movement leader Bernadus Swartbooi.
Venaani called for the reintroduction of ‘schools of excellence’ in every region of the country.
“The time when we were taught about the different body parts of a lizard and a grasshopper are gone. Today, a child in China at pre-primary level has the thinking capacity of a Grade 7 learner here in Namibia. This needs to change,” he said.
Venaani said schools such as the old Augustineun college, Concordia, Centaurus and Windhoek High School were among schools of excellence that encouraged pupils to work hard and offered better education.
“It was a dream for every child to be enrolled at a school like that. Such schools of excellence must also be extended to the vocational training field,” he said.
Contributing to the debate, PDM member of parliament Chairmaine Tjirare emphasised the need for an overhaul of the education curriculum, particularly the promotion of pupils who have not grasped the work to the next grade, which sets them up for failure.
“This is a serious problem. It is like saying ‘since you failed your driver’s licence for a sedan, we will send you for training to drive a truck’. After completion, such a person is expected to be able to drive both a truck and the sedan he earlier failed to master. It is just not practical,” she said.
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