Ei-iE

The Namibia National Teachers' Union has denounced the private sector role in the pre-primary sector, and demanded that qualified teachers be recruited in this education sector.

Strong  private domination of pre-primary sector

“Over the past years, the pre-primary sector was left in the hand of private providers, despite the union warning the government against it in the early phase of the restructuring of the education system,” according to Namibia National Teachers' Union (NANTU) Secretary General Basilius G. M. Haingura.

Qualified teachers in early childhood education

He also noted that three years ago, when the government started incorporating the pre-primary sector into the general public education system, there were very few pre-primary qualified teachers, which led the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture to re-introduce an in-service programme for pre-primary teachers, to address the shortage of qualified teachers at pre-primary level.

“It is true that some of the graduates are not yet employed,” Haingura added, suggesting that the Ministry “carry out an holistic human resource audit to determine the accurate appointment of teachers across the country”. He stressed that “classes are overcrowded due to the financial crisis, and the ministry is unable to build new classes for the recruitment of teachers”.