Africa-Press – Namibia. Namibia National Students Organization (NANSO) launched its access to higher education campaign today at the Windhoek Vocational Training Centre.
The aim of the campaign is to make registration more bearable, tackle student accommodation issues and ensure the resumption of face to face classes as well as mental health and suidece prevention.
Speaking at the event was Nanso Secretary for Education Malcolm Kambanzera who highlighted some issues that students are facing such as registration fees.
He said the campaign will do this by assisting students with a wide set of inquiries related to financial assistance and registration requirements.
He asked institutions of higher learning to relook their registration regimes so that they reflect economic realities of the Namibian students seeking tertiary education.
According to Kambanzera student leaders from all institutions worryingly note that fees payable at registration continue to be a concern for many prospective registrants.
“We ask that institutions of higher learning relook their registration regimes so that they reflect the economic realities of the many Namibian children seeking tertiary education, especially in the recovery of the COVID-19 global pandemic,” he said.
He added that Nanso makes this clarion call for institutions of higher learning to reduce their registration fees, and ease their registration requirements.
He also touched on other issues higher learning students are facing such as student accommodation.
He said that the Namibia University of Science and Technology has indicated that their hostels will remain unopened due to the ongoing maintenance work and the University of Namibia will open its hostels for only 30 percent capacity.
“In the face of what seems like a student accommodation crisis, our position remains that
boarding facilities at institutions of higher learning must operate at full capacity,” he said
However, he also added that if need be, the institutions must carry the cost of ensuring that hostels carry as many students and trainees as possible.
The Nanso secretary for education also added that while institutions of higher learning have currently followed a blended learning system where the lecturers have the power to decide the mode of teaching, it is time to return to face to face learning full time.
“We are wary of the exclusionary nature of online learning (i.e. students with little to no
access to the internet often miss online classes), and are confident that a migration to full-time face-to-face learning will mitigate this exclusion,” he said.
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