Africa-Press – Namibia. THE national chairperson of unemployed qualified teachers, Joyce Liswaniso, has expressed dissatisfaction with a response from education minister Sanet Steenkamp to proposed recruitment reforms.
The group, which is advocating for interview abolishment and the implementation of mass recruitment, also met up with president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah on 25 July to propose their suggestions.
The president acknowledged the suggestions and prompted the ministry to attend to the matter.
In a letter to the group, dated 12 August, Steenkamp said the mass recruitment of teachers and doing away with interviews is impractical.
The letter was in response to the group’s petition, titled ‘Petition for Urgent Reform in Teacher Recruitment Process’, dated 8 July.
Steenkamp said the Office of the Prime Minister consulted the Office of the Attorney General for legal advice on the demands raised by the unemployed teachers when they participated in a strike on 3 June.
“The Office of the Attorney General advised the Office of the Prime Minister that the abolishment and implementation of mass recruitment are not consistent with the Namibian Constitution,” Steenkamp said, referring to the Attorney General’s advice dated 18 February 2021, which justified why mass recruitment and abolishment are not considered.
Liswaniso on Thursday said the group will continue fighting until unemployed teachers’ demands are met.
“Everything we asked the ministry to do for us, there is nothing in our favour. Nothing at all. We are not happy with it,” she said.
Liswaniso said the decision not to abolish interviews is unfair to the unemployed teachers as the process allegedly involves corruption, which the ministry said it is investigating.
Unemployed teacher Ndahambelela Kamati says the minister’s response is not what the group expected.
“I’m not feeling well at all. Even my people, we are crying out here, honestly,” she said.
The group, consisting of more than 15 000 unemployed teachers, is planning to hold another protest in the coming weeks.
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