Africa-Press – Namibia. DEPUTY prime minister and minister of international relations and cooperation Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah on Friday paid tribute to school teachers, while giving assurance that the government would continue to invest in the education sector.
Addressing members of the diplomatic corps in Windhoek, Nandi-Ndaitwah said the importance of teachers cannot be overemphasised.
“All of us in this room, we are doing what we are doing because of a teacher. And that explains the importance of education,” she said, addressing close to 50 foreign diplomats.
Over the years, public education has been criticised for poor examination results, with teachers receiving the fair share of the blame.
Her comments also follow those of president Hage Geingob last week which included that teachers should take the initiative when children are taught outside in the open.
Geingob, during his address during the official opening of the 2023 Cabinet meeting, reminisced on a time when teachers told him they do not have access to kitchens at schools.
“I looked at this person and I said ‘yes, while you wait for the government, why don’t you put one pole here, one pole there and put blikkies on top?’
“At least you will be cooking there and it won’t be wet while you are waiting for the government,” the president said.
Nandi-Ndaitwah said on Friday that the government will continue allocating a larger share of the national budget to education and called for continued support from international partners.
“A lot has been said and written about Namibia’s education system in the past weeks. We all know that education has a chain of positive effects. Education is the key, it is an enabler to create employment increase earnings, improve health and eradicate poverty, among others.
“The level of Namibia’s education will determine our future. Against this background, our government will continue to invest much of our national budget in education, while developing strategies to ensure that the output will match the input,” she said.
“Many of your countries, and organisations assisted us in the education sector, in areas such as policy development, capacity building, educational materials and institutional development. We are very much appreciative of this support.”
Meanwhile, Nandi-Ndaitwah spoke about Namibia’s belief in multilateralism and its importance.
“Namibia believes in multilateralism and finds it useful in cooperating with other members of the international community. It is for this reason that our country has participated and will continue to participate in international and regional organisations’ activities to which Namibia is a member,” the minister said.
Nandi-Ndaitwah added that, “Namibia believes that multilateralism should serve its useful purpose of maintaining international peace and security, as well as fostering friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of sovereignty and self-determination, in line with the UN Charter.”
It is for this reason, Nandi-Ndaitwah said, that Namibia will continue to stand with the peoples of Palestine and Western Sahara in their genuine quest to exercise their inalienable rights to self-determination.
She further called for the “unconditional” lifting of the economic embargo against Cuba, and the lifting of sanctions against Venezuela and Zimbabwe.
“These measures [sanctions] are counterproductive to the promise in the preamble of the UN Charter to promote social progress and a better standard of life,” she said.
She also said Namibia hopes that a solution can be found in addressing worldwide conflicts and wars, including the conflict between Ukraine and Russia.
“We are convinced that solutions should be sought through dialogue, in conformity with international law and full respect for the United Nations Charter,” Nandi-Ndaitwah said.
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