UNICEF NCE Report Online

Republic of Namibia
Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture
National Conference on Education
2022
Republic of Namibia
Ministry of Education Namibia UN House, 38 - 44 Stein Street

Private Bag 13186 Klein Windhoek
Windhoek Windhoek, Namibia
Tel. +264-61-293-3111 Private Bag 13329

Fax. +264-61-224-277 Windhoek
Namibia
Government Office Park (Luther Street)
Windhoek Tel: +264 61 204 6111
Fax: +264 61 204 6203/7
© MoHSS, UNICEF Namibia, 2022

Editing, Layout and Design: Jo Rogge, blackrabbitalphabet
National
Conference
on Education
2022 REPORT
Transforming education towards inclusion and quality in the

context of global challenges: reimagining 2023 and beyond
CONTENTS
Acknowledgements.......................................................................................................................................................2
Acronyms and Abbreviations......................................................................................................................................3
MINISTER’S STATEMENT..............................................................................................................................................5
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.................................................................................................................................................7
INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................................................................9
CHAPTER 1 OPENING CEREMONY..................................................................................................................13
CHAPTER 2 SETTING THE SCENE...................................................................................................................19
CHAPTER 3 ELEMENTS NECESSARY TO TRANSFORM EDUCATION...................................................31
CHAPTER 4 SYSTEMIC TRANSFORMATION INITIATIVES........................................................................37
CHAPTER 5 IMPLEMENTATION MODALITIES TOWARDS TRANSFORMATION.................................45
CHAPTER 6 INCLUSIVE, EQUITABLE, SAFE AND HEALTHY SCHOOLS .............................................55
CHAPTER 7 DIGITAL LEARNING AND TRANSFORMATION....................................................................59
CHAPTER 8 TWO KEY CHALLENGES ............................................................................................................63
CHAPTER 9 REFLECTIONS ON TES TRACKS..............................................................................................67
CHAPTER 10 LEARNING AND SKILLS FOR LIFE, WORK AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT.......75
CHAPTER 11 FINANCING EDUCATION............................................................................................................81
CHAPTER 12 TRANSFORMING NAMIBIAN EDUCATION SECTOR: THE WAY FORWARD.................84
Action Track 1: Inclusive, equitable, safe and healthy schools
Action Track 2: Learning and skills for life, work and sustainable development
Action Track 3: Teachers, teaching and teacher education
Action Track 4: Digital learning and transformation
Action Track 5: Financing of education
CHAPTER 13 4 KEY TRANSFORMING EDUCATION INITIATIVES: RECOMMENDATIONS.................88
ANNEXES.......................................................................................................................................................................95
Acknowledgements
The United Nations Children’s Fund acknowledges the integral role played by the Namibian
Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) in setting the scene of the National Conference on Education
(NCE-2022), held in Windhoek from 2nd to 5th August 2022. Interviews were broadcast on
national television and local radio stations, including TV interviews on Good Morning Namibia
and various current affairs programmes, radio interviews in all vernacular languages, as well
as on the eight o’clock news bulletin. The NBC was also responsible for streaming and airing
the opening and closing sessions of the conference. In addition, a panel of speakers from the
NCE were invited to highlight the conference key takeaways, recommendations, and the way
forward on Talk of the Nation.
We also acknowledge the instrumental role of Paratus and Telecom Namibia in providing the
conference with reliable and efficient broadband , while ConSoAV were responsible for the
lighting, staging, photography, sound, and audio visuals throughout the conference. Using
high-calibre equipment, recording and livestreaming, ConSoAV also provided simultaneous
translation into 7 local languages at the event to ensure that delegates could listen to the
proceedings in a familiar language.
The School for the Hearing Impaired is acknowledged for their important role in availing two
teachers to translate throughout the conference engagements.
The Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology (MICT) also played an integral
part in capturing and documenting the conference proceedings. Both MICT and ConSoAV
worked closely with the NBC, the Ministry of Education Arts and Culture (MoEAC) public
relations team, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Communications Consultant
to increase the visibility of the conference.
The conference was celebrated with various cultural performances. These included traditional
dancing and singing, as well as choral performances in the main conference hall. These were
supplemented by exhibitions in the main concourse, and an outside tented area showcased
20 local exhibitors including book publishers, non-government organizations, handcrafters
and artists.
We appreciate the commitment anddedication of all delegates and participants in ensuring

the success of the conference.
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NCE2022 | CONFERENCE REPORT
Acronyms
AS Advanced Subsidiary Level1
AU African Union
CoP Community of Practice
CPD Continuous Professional Development
CSI Corporate Social Investment
DNEA Directorate of National Examinations and Assessment
ECD Early Childhood Development
ECE Early Childhood Education
e-DRMS Electronic Documents And Records Management System
EGMA Early Grade Mathematics Assessment
EGRA Early Grade Reading Assessment
EMIS Education Management System
ESD Education for Sustainable Development
GDP Gross Domestic Product
HE Higher Education
HEI Higher Education Institutions
HOTS Higher Order Thinking Skills
HRD Human resources development
HSFP Home-Grown School Feeding Programme
IC Information Communication
ICT Information and Communications Technology
IT Information Technology
MGEPESW Ministry of Gender Equality, Poverty Alleviation and Social Welfare
MHETI Ministry of Higher Education, Technology and Innovation
MICT Ministry of Information, Communications and Technology
MoEAC Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture
NANSO Namibia National Students Organisation
NBC Namibian Broadcasting Corporation
NCE National Conference on Education
NDP National Development Plan
NEGLANA National Early Grade Literacy and Numeracy Assessment Programme
NIED National Institute for Educational Development
NLAS National Library and Archive Services
NQT Newly Qualified Teacher
NSFP National Schools Feeding Programme
NUST Namibia University of Science and Technology
OD Organisational Development
PE Physical Education
PQA Directorate: Programmes and Quality Assurance
QA Quality Assurance
REO Regional Education Office
RPL Recognition of Prior Learning
SDG Sustainable Development Goal
SMART Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound indicators
SSA Sub-Saharan Africa
TES Transforming Education Summit
1
A recently introduced level of exam to ease the transition from NSSC-O (in Grades 10 and 11) to A levels (in Grade 13), also seen
as a school exit exam.
3
TVET Technical and Vocation Education and Training
UN United Nations
UNAM University of Namibia
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund
VAC Violence Against Children
4
Minister’s statement
It was my pleasure to welcome all delegates who attended
in person, and those who joined via online platforms to
the 2nd National Conference on Education (NCE-2022) in
Windhoek on 2 August 2022.
While we have faced some challenges since the last

National Conference on Education in 2011, I was equally
happy to report on the major achievements we have
made over the years in providing education to all children
in Namibia. We have put in place policies and strategies
to address key recommendations which include the
implementation of the MoEAC Strategic Plans for 2012/17
and 2018/22, which were developed with special focus to
support the implementation of the 4th and 5th National
Development Plans (NDP4&5). Five strategic themes were
identified as pillars of excellence, namely: a) Teaching and
Learning, b) Leadership and Management, c) Infrastructure,
d) Regulatory Framework, and e) Stakeholder Engagement.
The NCE was hosted under the theme “Transforming

education towards inclusion and quality in the context of
global challenges.” The theme spoke to the conference
objective, which included: dedicating the education system
to a number of transformative programmes, taking stock
of progress made in the implementation of Sustainable
Development Goal 4), reviewing the recommendations
of the 2011 NCE, assessing the impact of COVID-19 on
education, and providing an opportunity for Namibia to
recommit and rededicate efforts to improve financing for
education, ensuring that all children are in schools, and are
learning.
This national conference was preceded by regional
consultations from 30 May to 11 June 2022 aimed at
unpacking challenges affecting education and positive
teaching and learning outcomes, obtaining public
input through engagements, discussions, and finally,
recommendations from all regions.
My hope is that together we will own the NCE-2022

recommendations, and jointly work towards transforming
our education system to attain SDG4 and our Vision 2030.
………………………………………………………..
Honourable Ester Anna Nghipondoka
Minister of Education, Arts and Culture
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hence the urgent need to reimagine education.
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Executive summary
This report presents the deliberations, outcomes and recommendations of the National
Conference on Education (NCE-2022) held from 2 to5 August 2022, at the Safari Court Hotel
and Conference Centre in Windhoek under the theme ‘Transforming education towards
inclusion and quality in the context of global challenges: reimagining 2023 and beyond’.
As the Minister of Education, Arts and Culture (MoEAC), the Honourable Ester Anna
Nghipondoka stated in her opening remarks, the purpose of NCE-2022 was, “to dedicate the
education system to a number of transformative programmes, take stock of progress made
in the implementation of SDG4, review recommendations of the 2011 NCE, and provide an
opportunity for Namibia to rededicate efforts to improve financing for education, and ensure
that all children are in school and are learning.”
The NCE-2022 is the outcome of two educational initiatives (MoEAC and the United Nations
(UN))which were combined into one process during the first half of 2022. The initial drive
from the MoEAC was to hold a major national education conference following the successful
National Conference on Education (NCE-2011) held over a decade earlier in 2011. This would
provide an opportunity to reflect on progress made in delivering the commitments made at
NCE-2011, and those that Cabinet had approved in September 2011. The conference would
also serve to bring the education sector together after the devastating impact of the COVID-19
pandemic on schools and the whole education system during 2020 and 2021, and to work on
a plan to reinvigorate the education system in Namibia as a whole.
Regional and national consultations in Namibia, and the NCE-2022 were used as an ideal
opportunity to plan for the UN’s process, the Transforming Education Summit (TES) convened
in September 2022 by the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in New York, to address the
global education crisis that was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic and global economic
challenges.
At the TES, heads of state presented their country’s transformation plan based on five tracks:
Track 1: Inclusive, equitable, safe and healthy schools;

Track 2: Teachers, teaching and the teaching profession;
Track 3: Learning and skills for life, work and sustainable development;
Track 4: Digital learning and transformation; and
Track 5: Financing of education.
This timely summit organised by the UN aimed to democratise dialogue around education,
allowing citizens from each country to reflect on their existing education systems, and to
suggest improvements. Particular attention is paid to the voices of the youth, those from
marginalised communities, and persons with disabilities. These are the voices which are rarely
heard in education discussions and yet they are the communities most impacted by decisions
made on access to-, and quality of education.
Both processes initiated by the MoEAC and the UN required reflection on: (i) The impact of the
COVID-19 pandemic on education; and (ii) the path to achieving SDG 4. As Abhiyan Rana, the
UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) Education Advisor succinctly
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said in his opening remarks:, “The overarching theme of this conference is timely because of
the essential question: how can governments, development partners, teacher organizations,
schools, and communities transform education towards inclusion and quality in the context of
global challenges?”
By March 2022 the two processes – initiated by the MoEAC and the UN – had combined to
become a single process which included:
• Adopting the conference theme around the five TES Thematic Tracks and
developing position/policy papers on each track.
• Holding consultative education meetings with stakeholders in all 14 regions of
Namibia.
• Documenting all the inputs from the regional education consultation meetings.
• Holding a national validation meeting on 13 June 2022, where the regional
findings and 4 transformative pillars were presented and endorsed.
• A Youth Forum on 1 August 2022, attended by 82 young people who use art as
a medium to express their educational aspirations.
• Hosting the NCE-2022 in August 2022, as a culmination of the earlier processes.
• Developing a statement for His Excellency, the President of the Republic of
Namibia, to present at the Global Transforming Education Summit (TES) on 19
September 2022.
These processes provided an opportunity to mobilize greater political ambition, commitment,

and action to achieve greater progress on achieving Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG
4) on education. Finally, it was an opportunity to reimagine education, to accelerate progress
on improving education, and pursuing the 2030 Agenda for the remainder of the Decade
of Action. In summary, the TES provided a unique opportunity to elevate education to the
top of the global political agenda and to mobilize action, ambition, solidarity, and solutions
to recover pandemic-related learning losses, and sow the seeds to transform education in a
rapidly changing world.
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Introduction
The NCE-2022 was the biggest national education event since the 2011 National Conference
on Education (NCE-2011). It was used as an opportunity to assess progress made in the
implementation of the 2011 Conference Resolutions as well as to prepare for the United Nations
Transforming Education Summit (TES). It followed a month of regional education consultations
involving stakeholders in every region of Namibia.
Attendance at the NCE-2022 was nationally representative with delegates from government,
the private sector and civil society, youth, students, people living with disabilities, parent and
teacher representatives, traditional, religious and community leaders, development partners,
and the UN. It was attended by 649 delegates, along with 2,868 virtual audience members
who attended through the Facebook livestream.
This NCE was preceded by the Youth Forum on 1 August 2022, which brought together 82
learners from various schools in the Khomas Region, under the theme: “Learners’ agencies -
the power within learners to be the change they want to see in their education.” The Forum
was designed to reflect the aspirations and concerns of learners in relation to education. Their
artwork was also exhibited prominently in the conference concourse.
Conference Objectives
a) Overall Objective
The main objective of the National Conference on Education (NCE-2022) was to take stock of
progress made in the implementation of the SDGs, review the recommendations of the 2011
National Conference on Education and to provide an opportunity for Namibia to recommit
and rededicate efforts to ensure that all children are in school and are learning, following the
impact of COVID-19.
b) Specific Objectives
1. Review the resolutions and directives of the 2011 National Conference on

Education along with the recommendations from the regional consultations in
May – June 2022.
2. Develop a shared understanding of ‘free education’ in the Namibian context, and
model efficient financing of education based on corporate and community social
investment.
3. Commit to the implementation of the key pillars and initiatives to transform
education in Namibia.
4. Assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, future pandemics and climate
change on education, and consider measures to mitigate these impacts.
5. Generate recommendations to inform the next Strategic Plan for 2023-2028.
6. Produce Namibia’s Position Paper to be delivered at the 2022 Transformation
Education Summit (TES).
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c) Expected Results
1. Proposed recommendations to improve innovative resource allocation to the

basic education sector.
2. Clear and achievable implementation recommendations for the transforming
pillars and initiatives in education
3. Clear understanding about the roles and responsibilities of the Ministry of Gender
Equality, Poverty Alleviation and Social Welfare (MGEPESW) and the MoEAC in
integrating Early Childhood Development (ECD) into the education system as
part of a wider strategy of building stronger foundational skills in literacy and
numeracy.
4. Clear understanding and strategies to build resilience to mitigate future
pandemics and climate change.
5. Recommendations to inform the next Strategic Plan for 2023-2028.
6. Namibia’s Position Paper to be delivered at the 2022 Transformation Education
Summit.
An overarching resolution from the NCE-2022 is that the implementation of the

recommendations be overseen by a dedicated working group made up of senior education
officials, and broader education stakeholders with decision-making powers. This would help
avoid a similar conference in 2032 reviewing the same challenges.
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CHAPTER 1: The official opening
The Conference Director of Ceremonies, Ms Sanet Steenkamp, Executive Director, MoEAC,
in her opening remarks, recognised and appreciated the attendance of all stakeholders at
the Conference. She called for open and honest discussion to ensure that the conference
deliberated on critical challenges affecting the Namibian education system, and to attain the
Sustainable Development Goals as they pertain to education.
Laura Veendapi McLeod-Katjirua, Governor of Khomas Region welcomed all the conference
participants and highlighted the importance of addressing issues that affect children and
young people. She emphasized the need for concrete ideas and plans to transform and
improve access to, and the quality of, education.
1.1 Statement: Minister of Education, Arts and Culture, Honourable

Ester Anna Nghipondoka
In her statement on basic education in the context of global challenges, the Honourable
Minister mentioned that NCE-2022 was happening at a time when the global community,
including Namibia, was still grappling with what is called a “triple shock,” namely - COVID-19,
the climate crisis and the economic impact of the Ukraine war - which continue to negatively
impact on Namibia’s economy, imposing significant socio-economic challenges particularly on
vulnerable households and children.
Evidence shows that one of the sectors most heavily and negatively affected by the “triple
shock,” is education. The COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to reversing the gains made
in this sector over the past several years, and has increased inequalities in the provision of
education, disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable children and those with disabilities.
The African Union (AU)/UNICEF report on transforming education in Africa indicates that the
disruption in learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic – in which over 1 billion students
globally stopped going to school at some point – has only exacerbated the global learning
crisis. In addition, “girls, children from the poorest backgrounds, children with disabilities and
children on the move face significant difficulties in realizing their right to education.”
The Minister went on to spotlight the challenges experienced by the education sector
specifically, in Namibia: high numbers of teenage pregnancies, HIV/AIDS, COVID-19, hunger
and poverty, multi-grade teaching, lack of textbooks and other resources, non-availability of
teaching and learning resources including information and communications technology (ICT),
scarcity of running water in schools, and high unemployment resulting in urbanisation, leading
to overcrowded urban schools.
Minister Nghipondoka reassured delegates that partnerships with global and local partners
have been established which aim to make the education system more resilient, and to assist
in the recovery from global shocks. Key areas of progress so far, have been the provision of
nutritious food to children in schools, and the provision of quality education in the primary
phases, both of which strengthen foundational education. These have however required a
high level of resources.
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The Minister further advised delegates to focus on the following key areas for the duration of
the conference:
• Producing a well-equipped teacher, with ICT skills;

• Developing well-equipped schools with ICTs, adequate classrooms, teacher
housing etc.;
• The revised curriculum, which is intended to answer the developmental needs of
the country including required skills sets for the job market;
• Collaboration with private partners;
• Promoting inclusive education;
• Implementing demand-driven education; and
• Formulating clear, focused, prioritised and actionable levers of change.
The Minister ended her speech by stating that there is an important discussion to be had
between the MoEAC and the Ministry of Higher Education, Technology and Innovation (MHETI)
on a collaborative effort to re-imagine education in Namibia, in view of achieving SDG4 and
implementing the outcomes of NCE-2022.
1.2 Keynote Address: His Excellency President Dr. Hage G Geingob,

President of the Republic of Namibia
• Delivered by His Excellency Vice President Nangolo Mbumba
The right to education for all was clearly asserted, as highlighted in key national documents
such as Article 20 of the Namibian Constitution, ‘‘All persons shall have the right to education,”
and the importance of arts and culture in Articles 19 and 21, as well as the Basic Education
Act, 2001 (Act No.16 of 2001), along with its regulations and related policies, strategies and
frameworks. Furthermore, Vision 2030 makes provision for Namibia to become a knowledge-
based economy through the implementation of the National Development Plans (NDPs). In
addition, in respect of the national legislative and policy frameworks in education, Namibia is
signatory to various United Nations Conventions and global commitments related to education
such as the Agenda for Sustainable Development and its related SDGs and the Continental
Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 2016-2025).
The need for relevant, demand-driven education and solution-based outcomes of the
conference to transform education was highlighted. His Excellency emphasised that there is
a need to promote critical thinking and innovation skills, but stressed that while Government
is committed to invest meaningfully in the education sector, it cannot do it alone and needs
the support of all, including development partners and the private sector. To bridge the
education financing gap, he noted that there is a call for meaningful private sector support
to education, through developing a national framework on corporate social responsibility.
Reinforcing financial accountability and management at all levels of the education sector to
ensure efficient utilisation of these resources was further emphasised.
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In concluding, His Excellency called on the conference participants to ensure that the debates
and inputs are: “rigorous, for the sake of the benefit of the Namibian child and the nation at
large because transformation means breaking some things, and taking people out of their
comfort zones.”
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1.3 Setting the Scene: Regional Education Recovery from COVID-19:
Key regional education issues and possible solutions
• Dr Abhiyan Jung Rana, Regional Adviser for Education (ESARO)
Dr Rana shared a global perspective on the education crisis and the impact of COVID-19 on
progress in relation to SDG4, which is to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education,
and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”
“...to ensure inclusive

and equitable quality
education, and promote
lifelong learning
opportunities for all.”
16
The SDG 4 targets are:
He emphasised that COVID-19 has had a big impact, with many children losing more than
18 months of learning time. Generally, girls from poor families and children with disabilities
were most affected by school closure during the pandemic lockdown periods. The number of
children out of school in Africa increased from 37 million (before the pandemic) to 67 million
in 2021, hence the urgent need to reimagine education. In addition, stigma and discrimination
against children with disabilities continue to act as barriers to access to inclusive quality
education.
Lack of access to ICT and digital capacities amongst teachers and inadequate school
infrastructure are all impacting on the quality of education, especially amongst the poorest
nations. He argued for the need to build infrastructure and enable access in Namibia, so that
children can harness digital learning and use technology to address their needs.
With regard to the learning crisis, Dr Rana informed delegates that the UN is advocating for
20 percent of each nation’s public expenditure to be allocated to education, with a significant
percent of that budget dedicated to Early Childhood Development (ECD).
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CHAPTER 2: Setting the scene
Chaired by Ms. Edda Bohn (Deputy Executive Director, Formal Education, MoEAC), three
papers were presented by senior MoEAC officials at this session, including:
• A review of the 2011 Education Conference: What have we achieved?

• Critical issues generated from the regional stakeholder consultations.
• What do we need to do to meet the SDGs and recover from the impact of COVID-19?
2.1 Plenary: Review of the 2011 National Conference on Education
• Ms Hileni Amukana, (Director, Oshana, MoEAC)
Key achievements and challenges in the basic education sector since the 2011 conference
(NCE-2011) were highlighted, including the introduction and implementation of:
• Universal Primary and Universal Secondary Education, which resulted in

increased access to education.
• Implementation of a curriculum framework for inclusive education, with increased
access for learners with special education needs and those with disabilities.
• A new curriculum with a stronger focus on critical thinking skills, climate change
and gender issues, ICT and human rights, and which promotes pre-vocational
and vocational subjects at secondary level.
• Information and Communications (IC) as a subject from Grade 4, and Computer
Studies and Science in the secondary phase.
• Relevant policies and programmes, including the Policy on Orphans and
Vulnerable Children, Sector Policy on the Prevention and Management of Learner
Pregnancy, National Schools Feeding Programme (NSFP), the School Health and
Safety Policy and Programme, and Sector Policy on Inclusive Education.
Furthermore, the Basic Education Act was promulgated (Act No. 3 of 2020), and the Basic
Education Regulations are in the final stages of approval before implementation can start.
In addition to universal access, the Ministry has seen the number of schools with teacher
accommodation increase by 6 percentage points.
To address high repetition rates in the early grades, stronger focus is placed on early grade
literacy with the piloting of the Jolly Phonics approach and use of the Early Grade Reading
Assessment (EGRA). Further, the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (HSFP) has been
piloted as an alternative to the National School Feeding Programme (NSFP). The HSFP
encourages local gardens and community engagement with year-round school feeding, rather
than the contracting of commercial enterprise which was leading to many children receiving
low nutrition food with breaks in provision.
The Ministry has devolved responsibilities and financial control to regional education offices
and schools, including some aspects of procurement. It has also strengthened the capacity
19
of educators through enhanced in-service training programmes, in areas such as curriculum
development, teaching methodologies, procurement, school health and safety, school
governance, and financing in education.
In terms of promoting adult education and lifelong learning, the Ministry has extended the
spread and number of Community Learning and Development Centres (CLDCs) and public
libraries with computer facilities.
Concerns which continue to impact the education sector include:
• High levels of dropout and internal exclusion, particularly among boys (where
learners are in school but are learning little as they have not learned basic
literacy and numeracy skills).Continued high levels of grade repetition and the
promotion policy not being effectively implemented, and with inconsistencies in
its implementation.
• Too many subjects on the curriculum throughout the schooling phases (a
concern in 2011, which the addition of pre-vocational and vocational subjects
has compounded).
• Inadequate budgetary allocation to education undermining some of the
innovations introduced, including the expansion of pre-primary classrooms.
• Failure to introduce performance agreements for teachers, to link salaries
to performance, and not holding leaders and managers accountable for poor
learning outcomes.
• Continued lack of recognition and support for Life Skills teachers, with Life Skills
remaining a non-examinable subject.
• Continued high levels of teenage pregnancy, also exacerbated by the school
lockdowns during COVID-19.
• High levels of social and community dysfunctionality which impacts on schools.
While many of the NCE-2011 recommendations have been implemented, positive outcomes
are undermined by challenges such as limited financial and human resources, and systemic
weakness and inefficiencies which need to be addressed if Namibia is to attain SDG4, and
improve learning outcomes sustainably.
2.2 Plenary: Critical issues generated from the regional stakeholder

consultations on the 2022 National Conference and TES
• Mr Mzingisi Gqwede (Director, Adult Education. MoEAC)
Issues addressed during the regional consultations were highlighted, where stakeholders
shared their vision, and provided recommendations on how Namibia should transform the
education sector in line with the 5 TES Action Tracks.
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Track 1 Inclusive, equitable, safe and healthy schools
Key concerns raised:
• Weak school management undermining positive learning outcomes,

inclusion and school safety, resulting in many learners feeling
unsafe and unsupported, especially children from marginalised
communities (disabilities/ refugee/ undocumented/ child-headed
households).
• Poor infrastructure maintenance, compounded by lack of effective
regional school maintenance plans and uncoordinated efforts to
make schools safer.
• Declining standards of behaviour amongst the youth, reflecting
societal moral decay, with increased abuse of drugs and alcohol,
bullying, anti-social behaviour, and a rise in teenage pregnancy.
• Teachers and communities do not know the Sector Policy on the
Prevention and Management Learner Pregnancy, often resulting in
pregnant girls being excluded from school.
• Many schools lack water and sanitation facilities, also impacting on
menstrual health and hygiene management.
• The school feeding programme does not benefit children in ECD
centres and secondary schools, and meals are often neither
nutritious nor provided year-round.
Proposed Education Transforming Actions:
• Stronger provision for learners with disabilities including school

physical access, accessible hostels, educator and professional
services support.
• Regions should implement regional maintenance plans for schools
with initial focus on rural schools.
• Enhance multi-sector collaboration to conduct public education,
raise awareness on alcohol and drug abuse, and enhance community
policing to reinforce the implementation of policies.
• Provision of key infrastructure in each school, including toilets and
safe buildings by prioritising greater funding to schools serving
poorer communities.
• Make Life Skills a promotional subject.
• Providing year-round school feeding and secure school nutrition
programmes.
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Track 2 Learning and skills for life, work, and sustainable
development
• Absence of a comprehensive Namibian reading system at junior

primary level.
• Low literacy, numeracy and computer skills across all phases of the
basic education sector.
• Lack of qualified and experienced teachers for technical subjects,
and Advanced Subsidiary (AS) level.
• Limited entrepreneurial, financial literacy, and soft skills in the
curriculum.
• Under-resourcing and lack of infrastructure (classrooms, labs and
workshops), including the acute shortage of functional public and
school libraries in the regions.
• Lack of access to the Technical and Vocation Education and Training
(TVET) sector due to inadequate funding, and inequities in financing
between public and private providers.
• Limited recognition of traditional knowledge and skills, and the
absence of a policy to promote and recognise prior learning.
• Absence of a clear system for transitioning from Adult Learning into
formal education, especially after completing Adult Upper Primary
Education (AUPE).
• Strengthen and increase early childhood education programmes.

• Prioritise and improve teaching of early grade literacy and numeracy
skills.
• Prioritise accessible infrastructure development.
• Implement curriculum adjustments and introduce pre-vocational
subjects in schools with adequately trained teachers, and enhance
their skills to improve teaching outcomes, especially in AS level and
technical subjects.
• Strengthen assessment systems for trades, promote the Recognition
of Prior Learning (RPL) pathways and assist adults to re-enter
education.
• Ensure every region has Community Learning and Development
Centres (CLDCs) and implement career knowledge and development
in all education institutions.
• Make up for time lost due to COVID-19 with holiday and remedial
lessons.
• Strengthen parental engagement through the Family Literacy
Programme.
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Track 3 Teachers, Teaching and the Teaching Profession
• Mismatch between demand and supply of teachers, including

reported inconsistencies in the appointment of teachers at all levels.
• Teacher training is too theoretical and involves too little practical
teaching practice, so newly qualified teachers (NQTs) are unprepared
for the realities of teaching.
• Teacher training outputs are not aligned with the needs of the
schooling system.
• NQTs are not trained properly in using ICTs in the classroom, and
Continuous Professional Development (CPD) in use of ICTs is very
limited.
• Lack of Namibian language teachers resulting in challenges with
implementing the Language Policy.
• Lack of training available creates a shortage of qualified teachers in
particular fields, including special needs and teaching learners with
learning challenges and disabilities.
• Retirement of experienced teachers and replacement by novice
teachers with limited practical teaching skills.
• Limited teaching and learning materials with learners sharing
textbooks.
• Lack of skills in the use of digital technologies to enhance teaching.
• High teacher: learner ratios, and school principals overloaded with
both teaching and school administration work.
• Lack of teacher housing, especially in remote rural areas, to attract
qualified teachers.
• Limited access to electricity and internet connectivity in remote rural
schools.
• Teaching time lost in addressing disciplinary issues, and Life Skills
teachers overwhelmed with addressing mental health/psychosocial
challenges.
• Teachers struggling to address the impact of COVID-19, and to adapt
the curriculum to address the individual needs of learners impacted
by school closure.
• Lack of a regulatory body for the teaching profession, with no
mechanism for professionalism to be measured, recognised, and
rewarded.
• Outdated National Standards and Performance Indicators.
• Tertiary institutions should develop and implement a Bachelor of

Education (B.Ed.) curriculum structure, with course subjects aligned
to the school curriculum, and offer core courses in using IT and the
International Computer Driving License (ICDL).
23
• Tertiary education institutions should enrol high performing students
in the B.Ed. degree course to become teachers.
• A committee comprised of MoEAC officials and teacher training
institutions to analyse the needs of the new curriculum and allow
the Ministry to set its training needs, and set minimum requirements
for teacher training.
• Teaching practice should be mandatory during training, and should
be extended.
• Deploy teachers to schools based on their subject and phase
specialisation.
• Speed up the establishment of the Professional Council of Teachers
to oversee the regulations governing the profession. Register
teachers, ensure that high standards of conduct are maintained, and
investigate accusations of teacher misconduct in a fair manner, and
dismiss those found guilty.
• Oversee teacher CPD and provide mandatory courses leading to a
qualification.
• Review teacher: learner ratios for more consistent application of the
standard.
• Require all schools to have an induction programme for NQTs with
the support of retired teachers where possible, to assist and mentor
them.
• Reward high performing teachers, and motivate them to support
their peers who might be struggling.
• Provide CPD for all subjects and for inclusive teaching.
• Strengthen private sector collaboration to provide and train teachers
on digital technology to improve teaching and learning.
24
Track 4 Digital Learning and Transformation
• Absence of an ICT Policy for education.

• Limited access to electricity, devices and connectivity, especially in
remote rural communities.
• Learners prohibited from bringing smartphones to school, to
facilitate access to virtual lesson content.
• Learners graduating from secondary school without having been
exposed to digital technologies.
• Restricted access to computers in some schools – reserved
for specific subjects – and many schools offer Information
Communication (IC) as a subject without any computers.
• Lack of qualified Information Communication (IC) teachers.
• Lack of personal devices causing learning loss during COVID-19.
• Learners with disabilities often lack assistive devices.
• Lack of financial resources to maintain computers and other devices
at school.
• Review the ICT policy for education and finalise for implementation.
• Advocate for the amendment of the Telecommunications Policy to
promote contributions by service providers with incentives.
• Facilitate access to affordable electricity in school using alternative
modes such as solar and wind.
• Provide schools with financial resources to set up computer labs
and strengthen the teaching of ICTs.
• Develop and implement an IT equipment replacement plan and
offer adequate support to schools.
• Introduce innovative financing options for ICT roll out including
Public Private Partnerships (PPPs).
• ICT competence must be a core competency for graduation from all
teacher education programmes.
• Development of staff provisioning norms for IC teachers and regional
technical support personnel.
• Strengthen IC as a subject by monitoring its implementation.
• Promote open-source platforms and resources.
• Develop digital content relevant to learners with disabilities, and
ensure availability of assistive technologies.
• Reinstate ICT integration skills training for education officers at
regional and national level so that they are not left behind in digital
competence.
25
Track 5 Financing of Education
• The concept of ‘free education’ took away parental/community

responsibility reinforced by circulars for schools to avoid requesting
parental contributions.
• Inequitable school access to per capita Universal Primary Education/
Universal Secondary Education (UPE/USE) grants undermining
teaching and learning.
• A growing culture of non-accountability, and lack of monitoring of
the use of UPE and USE funds.
• Local procurement policies leading to inefficient utilisation of
resources.
• Inefficient/late funding flows with non-aligned government, and
school funding cycles.
• Curriculum reform occurred without adequate resourcing and ICTs,
along with teacher training.
• Lack of an enabling environment for innovative teaching through
lack of power and connectivity in many—especially—rural schools.
• Lack of inter-ministerial coordination to resolve school challenges.
• Develop a framework for effective financial control measures for

efficient budget utilisation and accountability, and schools should
be audited by qualified external auditors.
• Develop policy instruments to enable innovative financing, including
fundraising by schools.
• Research and review planning and procurement processes, and
amend policies to ensure efficiency in planning and procurement
processes.
• Decentralise finances to the regions and schools and utilise qualified
regional planning, procurement officers and work inspectors to
procure goods and services for schools, to benefit from appropriate
economies of scale.
• Define a pro-poor formula for parents to contribute financially to
education, based on their economic status.
• Speed up hiring procedures of school principals, teachers and
regional staff to avoid high costs of temporary staff to fill recruitment
gaps.
• Implement sustainable policies for budgeting for the construction,
upgrading, and infrastructure maintenance and repair of rural
schools.
• Develop a communication strategy to raise awareness about any
changes made to the financing of education.
26
• Substantially increase the pre-primary budget and invest in early
literacy programmes.
• Teacher salaries to be removed from the education vote and instead
handled by the Ministry of Finance, with the reduced education vote
focusing on developmental needs.
Generally,
girls from poor
families and
children with
disabilities were
most affected
by school
closure during
the pandemic
lockdown
periods.
27
2.3 Plenary: Reflections on the Education Sector: What do we need
to do to meet the SDGs and recover from the impact of COVID-19?
• Mr. Cavin Muchila (Director, Planning, MoEAC)
Some key strategic global, regional and national documents guiding the implementation of
legislation, policies and programmes in the MoEAC were highlighted. These include Vision
2030; the National Development Plans (NDPs); the Continental Education Strategy for Africa
(CESA): 2016-2025; Agenda 2026: the Africa we want; and the Ministry of Education Strategic
Plan 2017/18-2021/22. Challenges brought about by the impact of COVID-19 on the education
sector, which will reverse the gains made towards attaining SDG4 were also addressed.
The Ministry of Education Strategic Plan was developed in line with the priorities of SDG4 and
its related targets, to ensure inclusive, equitable quality education, and promoting lifelong
learning opportunities for all. The MoEAC places emphasis on producing well educated
citizens, and promotes a skills revolution underpinned by science, technology and innovation,
to make Namibia a knowledge-based society.
As per SDG4, the Ministry has prioritised access to education by bringing education closer to
communities. In this respect, since NCE-2011, the number of schools in Namibia has increased,
from 1703 in 2011, to 1954 in 2022. In addition, the country has nearly achieved universal
primary education, where over 85% of learners are accessing schools since the introduction
of UPE/USE.
High repetition rates have been observed over the years. However, promotion requirements
were readjusted due to COVID-19 and the rationalised curriculum, which resulted in relatively
lower repetition rates. The high number of learners who drop out of school after surviving
primary education is a matter of concern that requires serious attention, and critical analysis.
The implications of the readjusted promotion requirements are a further concern, in that they
may lead to learners moving ahead with a learning backlog, and not attaining the minimum
competencies when promoted to a higher grade. This will subsequently impact on their
success and the attainment of SDG4.
In terms of teacher qualification, most secondary teachers had at least three years of tertiary
education, including teacher training, while at the national level, 97.7% of the teachers in
the secondary phase have formal teacher training. The region with lowest proportion of
adequately trained primary teachers is Omaheke, with only 73.4% of teachers having formal
teacher training and at least three years tertiary education, while Zambezi has the highest
proportion of trained primary teachers at 98.6%.
While there has been a notable improvement in the provision of permanent structures over the
years, one major concern raised is the lack of accessible school infrastructure for persons with
disabilities. In addition, there is an observed increase in the number of traditional structures at
schools, due to the decrease in the allocation to the Development Budget.
28
Transforming education is about making sure that all learners are equipped with the knowledge,
skills, and values to help them not only succeed, but also to contribute to the betterment of
our world. Technical and vocational education is expected to contribute towards economic
and social development. To this effect, there has been a growth in the introduction of pre-
vocational education in secondary schools, with 18 schools now offering the Certificate for
Basic Prevocational Skills (CBPVS), which includes Resource Schools.
Specific programmes designed to help meet the SDGs and recover from
COVID-19 are:
• Promoting access to quality education, equity and inclusion from pre-primary

to secondary education, through the provision of the required resources in the
system. Emphasis will be placed on strengthening collaboration with tertiary
education institutions to enhance pre-service education programmes,, to meet
the demands at school level (subject combination and quality).
• Enhancing parental, community and private sector engagement as key to
ensuring that Namibia attains the SDG goals through the motto ‘quality education
is a shared responsibility’.
• Strengthening pre-vocational and vocational courses in secondary schools to
equip learners with the knowledge, skills, and values to help them not only
succeed, but to contribute to the betterment of our world.
• The weak performance at senior secondary level requires more attention to
improve education quality. Children in remote areas should be supported and
encouraged to continue to higher grades by providing classes and teachers for
such grades in remote areas, by building hostel accommodation at catchment
schools to accommodate learners from the smaller remote schools, and by
strengthening the system of feeder schools.
• The Ministry of Finance should increase allocation to the development budget
for the MoEAC to address the poor conditions of school infrastructure, especially
in remote schools and community hostels.
73.4%
of teachers in Omaheke Region have
formal teacher training and at least
three years tertiary education.
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30
CHAPTER 3 Elements necessary to
transform education
A range of critical legislative, policy and programmatic issues which could contribute towards
transforming education, arts and culture in Namibia were deliberated on in this session.
These include the professionalisation of teachers, expanding and socialising the funding of
education, and the role of the arts, heritage and culture in generating sustainable employment.
Professionalisation of teacher training is included in the 2nd of the TES tracks: Teachers,
teaching and the teaching profession. This track emphasises the critical role that teachers play
in mediating the learning experience of children, and that more and better trained teachers
are needed across the globe.
The session was chaired by Mr. Knox Imbuwa (Deputy Executive Director, Finance and
Administration, MoEAC).
3.1 Plenary: Progress on the professionalisation of teachers
• Ms Loide Shaanika (Secretary General, NANTU), and
• Mr Nicolaas Eiman (Deputy Director, PQA, MoEAC)
Quality education is measured by the quality of its teaching force. Poor learning outcomes
have been linked to poor teaching outcomes and lack of qualified teachers in some subject
areas, which is also linked to the demand and supply of teachers. The quality of teaching is
critically linked to attaining SDG4.
Teacher quality and the professionalization of educators has been highlighted in a number of
global instruments such as the African Union Agenda 2063-AU Continental Teacher Standards,
Teacher Qualification Framework and Continental Guidelines for the Professionalization of
Teaching; Education International; the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO) and International Labour Organization (ILO) recommendations
concerning the status of teachers; Africa Federation of Teaching Regulatory Authorities
(AFTRA); as well as during the review of the Education Act, Act 16 of 2001 in 2015-2017.
However, teaching is not regulated in Namibia as there is no legal framework governing the
profession. The result is neither standards nor norms of performance, or ability to benchmark
teachers within the region or beyond, with educators not perceived as professionals. In
addition, CPD is not mandatory, resulting in some teachers not using available opportunities
to further enhance their skills. The call for the professionalization of educators is also being
made in order to regulate teacher training institutions.
The aim of regulation is to improve the quality of teacher training, raise the character and
status of the teaching profession, to regulate teaching in both the public and private sectors,
as well as to determine the admission requirements for the profession. It will only be through
31
the professionalization of educators that Namibia would be able to develop and enforce
internationally comparable teaching practices, and thus attract the best candidates to the
profession.
The Ministry has appointed a Steering Committee to initiate the process of developing an
Educator’s Act, and will organize national and regional consultations and a national validation
workshop with stakeholders, before drafting a bill for submission to the Ministry of Justice for
presentation in Parliament. The consultative process will involve discussion of critical issues
such as, ‘who is an educator?’ in the Namibian context, and who should be regulated, as well
as issues of autonomy, powers and functions, advocacy and financial resource implications.
3.2 Research Papers: Impact of the Reformed Curriculum and

challenges in schools in Namibia
• Dr. Joshua Matati (Senior Lecturer, UNAM), and
• Ms Loide Shaanika (Secretary General, NANTU)
Delegates were reminded of the fragmented education system inherited at Namibia’s

independence, and based on the apartheid system, where African children had very limited
access to education, a lack of resources and unqualified teachers. To address the imbalances,
and following the Jomtien World Conference Declaration in 1990, which called for ‘Education
for All’, the Namibian government adopted the Education for All policy in 1993 to promote
equality, equity, access, and democracy.
Some post-independence achievements in education were hihhlighted, including several

curriculum reforms. The revised curriculum implemented from 2015-2022, is one such reform
aimed to align the curriculum to the needs of society, and the national development goals.
The curriculum review resulted in the implementation of the Advanced Subsidiary (AS) Level
in 2021.
The revised curriculum has resulted in the introduction of the new phases in
basic education:
• Lower Primary (Grades 1-4), now Junior Primary (including Pre-Primary and
Grades 1-3).
• Upper Primary (Grades 5-7), nowSenior Primary (Grades 4-7).
• Junior Secondary (Grades 8-10), nowJunior Secondary (Grades 8-9).
• Senior Secondary (Grades 11-12), nowSenior Secondary (Grades 10-11), with
Grade 11 replacing Grade 10 as an exit point.
• Grade 12 was changed to the Advanced Subsidiary (AS) Level.
32
However, despite these reforms, there is a dire need for improvement in the implementation
of the revised curriculum. While curriculum reform is generally positive, teachers were not
adequately prepared to facilitate the revised curriculum. The system is faced with a shortage
of suitably qualified teachers, leading to teachers teaching the revised levels such as Grades
4 to 7, vocational subjects, ICT and the AS level, without the necessary qualifications. The
smooth implementation of the revised curriculum is further complicated by a lack of financial
resources, classrooms, water for agricultural subjects, as well as limited science equipment.
Other challenges include the lack of proper coordination between teacher training institutions
and the MoEAC, in terms of which subjects and subject combinations are offered by the
different teacher training institutions, and which vary from the basic curriculum offered in
schools. Further, the current staffing norms based on the teacher-learner ratio are not suitable
for the new curriculum, and particularly for multi-grade schools.
It was recommended that more resources should be allocated to schools to improve the quality
of teaching and instruction, and to align the higher education teacher training curriculum with
the basic education curriculum to address the mismatch in areas of teacher specialisation and
subject combination.
A further recommendation is the need for a review of the staffing norms, to speed up the
implementation of the recommendations of the post provisioning norms audit, and to address
shortfalls in teacher accommodation, especially in remote rural areas.
3.3 Plenary: Arts, heritage and culture: Can we tap their potential
for generating self-employment, and achieve a sustainable
environment, green industries and eco-tourism?
• Ms. Esther Moombola/Gôagoses (Director, National Heritage and Culture

Programs, MoEAC,) and
• Ms. M’kariko Amagulu (Director, Arts, MoEAC)
The important role of arts education was the focus of this session which introduced the creative
industries through a high-quality pictorial presentation. The case was made for the role and
potential of self-employment in the arts and culture sector, in driving sustainable businesses
in the eco-tourism and arts sectors, while helping in greening the economy. Challenges
experienced by the Namibian arts industry include funding gaps and diverse income streams,
dilapidated infrastructure, limited space, and policy changes.
33
3.4 Evening Talk: ‘Social Impact Bond Model to Finance Education’
• Ms. Edda Bohn (Deputy Executive Director, MoEAC)
Focused on the challenges of the ECD sector in Namibia, an investment case was proposed
to reduce high grade repetition and dropout rates, and to improve the health and safety of
children in the long term.
Overall, the Namibian education system is a relatively high-cost, low-performance system. By

regional and international standards, spending 9.1% of GDP on education is high. However,
priorities are skewed, with a top-heavy spending pattern - high spending per learner at higher
education level and extremely low spending at ECD and early grade level - and where the rate
of return would be optimized. Limited budgetary allocations at the lower levels of education
are regressive, as learners at tertiary institutions are disproportionately from wealthier
households, while those in the early grades are mainly from poorer households, hence the
introduction of UPE and USE to ensure inclusive access to all children.
To address inefficiencies in funding for ECD, the conference was introduced to a number
of funding mechanisms such as Social Impact Bonds (SIB), an outcomes-based mechanism
funded by investors or government, to fund interventions to address dropout, teacher training,
the enrollment of girls, and improving outcomes, through implementation of early numeracy
and literacy programmes. Impact bonds allow for an extended impact period, thereby avoiding
short-termism which plagues most funded interventions. Evaluations of the use of impact
bonds in India showed notable improvements in outcomes, with the extended length of the
impact period ensuring impact and encouraging sustainability.
The long-term benefits of SIB are:
• Committing funds to proven results such as measurable improved ECD access,

and learning environments.
• Saving governments money through successful social results, by improving
school readiness, reducing grade repetition and dropout rates, and so increasing
system efficiencies, and reducing the cost of repetition and dropout across all
stages of education.
• Creating the potential for new investors in the ECD and education sectors.
34
35
36
CHAPTER 4 Systemic transformation
initiatives
Key transforming initiatives in education were deliberated on Day 2 of the conference. These
are deliberately rooted in the findings of the Regional Education Consultations, the National
Validation Meeting and international good practice. They are designed to respond to the
challenge from the UN to transform education, and to deliver education and schooling in a
way that leads to sustained improved results.
The session was chaired by Mr. Gerard Vries (Deputy Executive Director, Lifelong Learning,
Arts and Culture, MoEAC).
4.1 Plenary: Why are we focused on transforming education in

Namibia, and how does that help achieve the SDGs?
• Dr Aune Victor (Education Specialist, UNICEF)
The regional stakeholder consultations, conducted from 29 May to 13 June 2022 in all 14
regions of Namibia, sounded a clear message that education in Namibia is in crisis, as in much
of the world. The conference was further reminded that the regional consultation findings
were neither those of the MoEAC nor of UNICEF, but what Namibians themselves are saying
in terms of the education they desire for all children in Namibia.
The regional and national consultations were attended by over 2500 participants, including
parents, children, those with disabilities, vulnerable groups, community and traditional leaders,
and civil society organizations.
Through the consultative process, it is clear that schools are not adequately supported and
funded, and too many learners are not able to read or do basic mathematics, with many
learners failing and dropping out. In addition, learners with special needs are not adequately
catered for to address their individual learning needs.
Access to new technology is limited and where technology exists, it is under-utilised.

Furthermore, the consultative meetings raised concern about the challenges in teacher
preparation and deployment, and the huge disparities in the provision of education across
the country.
Namibia is signatory to Agenda 2030, which is interlinked with the SDGs as they both focus
on people, the planet, prosperity, peace and partnerships. To attain SDG4, the Ministry should
pay attention to other SDGs which are directly or indirectly contributing to education, and also
teach future generations to preserve the planet.
The education challenges resulting from COVID-19, which included an estimated 18 months
of learning time lost, were highlighted during the session. These include the challenges
experienced by children from poor backgrounds and those with vulnerabilities who struggled
37
with remote learning, and had minimal family support during lockdown. Higher levels of learner
pregnancies were recorded during this period, with over 3600 girls falling pregnant in 2020
alone. In addition, violence and abuse, and lack of any psychosocial support for teachers and
learners was also reported.
Before COVID-19, Namibia and the world at large, was already experiencing a learning crisis.
A report submitted to the UN General Assembly in 2021 called ‘Reimagining our Futures
Together,’ prompted the call for the Transforming Education Summit (TES), to address the
silent, but worsening crisis, that has disastrous effects on people and the planet.
The question posed to delegates was: “How can Namibia fully recover from the impact of
COVID-19 to build back better?” They were asked to think out of the box, to be creative
and imaginative, to not be afraid of taking calculated risks, and to use data to inform, and
technology to implement, change. In addition, it was propsed that linkages and alliances
should be created across Ministries, parastatals, and with the private sector and development
partners, to better address the education challenges.
To transform education in Namibia, the child should always be placed at the centre of our
thinking, and sacrifices, changes and even criticism should be accepted, if those will improve
the system, and the learning experience for children.
4.2 Plenary: Systemic Transformative Priorities - Innovative Financing

and Domestic Resource Mobilisation to Transform Education, Arts
and Culture
• Ms. Agnes Shiningayamwe (Regional Heritage Officer, National Heritage

Council, MoEAC)
The overall challenge is inadequate funding for key sections of the education system which
provide most value for money (VfM), and are foundations to improve the whole system. This
is particularly the case with pre-primary, which only gets about 3% of the education budget,
and the foundation phase (Grades 1-3). As Namibia already spends upward of 9% of its Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) on education, the focus needs to be on better use of these funds.
Reallocation of funding may be required to ensure that funds follow function, and proven VfM
monitored more closely.
While more government funding may be difficult to secure, family and business support for
schooling is largely untapped. Limited family support relates mostly to how ‘fee-free education’
is understood by parents and communities, such that they opt out of traditional commitments
to supporting their local school in kind and funds. The options for increased social spending
on education needs to be researched, and findings implemented so that a true cost sharing
model can be designed and implemented.
A further challenge is the procurement process operating in schools. Inefficient allocation

of responsibilities at various levels in the system fails to harness local contextual knowledge
38
39
to maximise impact of purchased goods, while economies of scale are rarely realised. To
improve the procurement process an evidence-based policy rethink is needed. This will also
require improved functioning of the head office and regional offices (see 4.3), and better
communications within, and between, each level in the system. This should reduce crisis
management, which in turn will have knock-on effects on the effective use of funds and
resources.
The MoEAC needs to mount a review of the financing of education as a matter of urgency.
This review needs to look at regional and international good practice, and in particular explore
the use of social and developmental impact bonds. If these funding mechanisms are seen to
be implementable in Namibia, then they should be adopted. In addition, along with broader
government, the MoEAC should look at some of the innovative funding approaches suggested
during NCE-2022. These include allocating fishing quotas and mineral licenses to education.
It is believed that some quick wins are possible. The academic and financial year could be
aligned to improve school allocation and spending patterns. Key vacant posts should be filled
timeously. Managers should be made more accountable for delivery of quality education, and
high levels of learner dropout should be researched and reduced.
4.3 Plenary: Systemic Transformative Priorities: Improved Office

Efficiencies in the MoEAC
• Mr. Matungoe Chidi (CEO, Mzabalazo)
The regional consultations indicated that regional offices of the MoEAC were failing to
adequately support schools. In turn, regional office staff argued that the MoEAC’s head
office could be more efficient and effective. The view that the education bureaucracy is not
working well was echoed by senior officials. The result is crisis management and frustration
at every level, with policy being developed but not implemented effectively, learner grants
being under-funded, national standards being outdated, and limited focus on the quality of
education being delivered.
Overall, the observations pointed to the need for a new, transforming vision for the education
system, while aligning the budget with national priorities. This new vision must prioritise the
needs of schools and learners, and must ensure that the regional offices are able to deliver a
high-quality service.
Evidence-based planning is required, which starts by identifying the key processes in the
Ministry, analyzes strengths and weaknesses, and aligns finances and responsibilities with
the functions which will meet the desired outcomes. Such inclusive MoEAC planning should
create a stronger Ministry team, with clearer objectives and targeted funding, and so reduce
crisis management.
Finally, the new processes put in place need to be reviewed regularly, while training and
support are strengthened to build capacity in the regional and head office, to ensure that the
vision is being realised.
40
In the short term this means undertaking evidence-based planning, and agreeing on a vision
for a transformed national education system which best meets the needs of the schools and
the regional education offices, and then identifying the capabilities that are required in head
office and regional offices to support this vision. Over time these will be reinforced, as a
culture of quality educational delivery takes root, and staff and schools see the fruits of their
labour in learner and school success.
4.4 Plenary: Presentation of systemic transformative priorities:

Transformation of teacher training
• Mr. Nicolaas Eiman (Deputy Director, PQA, MoEAC)
The NCE-22 participants agreed that there needs be a transformation of teacher training in
Namibia. For teachers to be more effective they need to have stronger teaching and classroom
management skills, better facility in using resources, improved lesson pacing skills, and better
assessment skills. They also need to be able to use a wider repertoire of teaching methods,
including pair-, and group work.
Initial training of teachers is an area of real concern. At every regional consultation meeting
concerns were raised about the quality of teacher training, and so the readiness of newly
qualified teachers (NQTs) to teach effectively. It was reported that teacher training is too
theoretical, and teaching practice is too short and fails to provide a realistic learning
environment for the student teacher. Most worrying is (i) that some NQTs are entirely trained
online, so experience no teaching practice; and (ii) universities offer subject combinations
which prevent the teacher progressing, and do not offer training in some subjects which
the schools offer. The providers of teacher training and the MoEAC need to meet urgently
and reconceptualise teacher training, as it is not working at present. The MoEAC needs to
establish a liaison committee with all institutions which train teachers as members. This will
ensure that the intake of trainees, and the subjects they are trained in, reflect the needs of the
schools they will work in.
NQTs also need to undergo a strong, nationally developed, school delivered, induction
programme when they start their first job. This should be at least a year in duration and include
the NQT being attached to an experienced teacher who acts as guide and mentor during the
induction period.
“The teacher is the most

important factor in whether a
child learns or not.”
41
Continuous professional development (CPD) of teachers needs to be re-conceptualised with
less dependency on workshop training which is then cascaded, and more use of communities
of practice, coaching and mentoring. CPD needs to focus on the skills and knowledge teachers
need to be more effective. This includes stronger classroom management and teaching skills
as well as inclusivity and ICT skills, which are largely lacking at present.
There is need for more qualified teachers and a need to make teaching a more attractive
profession, with annual awards and a higher positive profile for the profession. This should be
accompanied by improved careers advice in secondary schools which highlights the positive
aspects of teaching and encourages high performing students to enter the profession.
4.5 Plenary presentation of systemic transformative priorities:

National Early Grade Literacy and Numeracy Assessment Initiative
• Mr. Richard Jewison (founder and former CEO, Mzabalazo)

The first indicator for SDG4 is the ‘Proportion of children and young people (a) in grades 2/3;
(b) at the end of primary; and (c) at the end of lower secondary achieving at least a minimum
proficiency level in (i) reading and (ii) mathematics’. This minimum proficiency level is defined
by the World Bank as the ability to read a sentence of a simple story in the language used for
teaching. The UN’s TES Track 1 paper states that: “A key cost-effective strategy to reach all
children and invest in today’s and tomorrow’s youth, is continued access and learning and a
focus on foundational literacy, numeracy as well as increase access to ICT.” The presenter
pointed out that learners who reach Grade 4 without being able to read with fluency, are unlikely
to ever learn to read fluently or to develop basic mathematical skills, which subsequently
impacts on their life chances and undermines their opportunities of earning a decent living
in the future. Learners who cannot read tend to drop out of school early and repeat many
grades, which has serious human and financial implications.
42
Many teachers have been trained on using Early Grade Reading Assessment (EGRA) tests
to monitor early grade children’s performance in reading in English and some national
languages, and to help design their teaching to fit the needs of the learners. However, there
is no equivalent for assessing numeracy skills – Early Grade Mathematics Assessment (EGMA)
is not being used – while EGRA has been developed for 6 national languages, with others
still undeveloped. EGRA tests would be more effective in monitoring the system if teachers
were able to measure the performance of their learners against standards with reading
benchmarks and cut-scores. These need to be developed in Namibia, for Namibian conditions
and languages.
A National Early Grade Literacy and Numeracy Assessment initiative (NEGLANA) based on a
successful national early grade reading programme in Rwanda is proposed to be adapted for
the Namibian basic education sector. NEGLANA consists of the setting up national standards
(benchmarks and cut-scores) for reading expectations in home languages and English, and
for numeracy, at the end of Grades 1, 2 and 3, which includes the identification of 3 or 4
assessments per grade for reading and for numeracy and using standard EGRA and EGMA
tests which have been shown to be good predictors of future learner performance. In addition,
Grade 1, 2 and 3 teachers and their heads of department (HoDs)/principals should be trained
on the standards, the tests, administering the tests, and the broader assessment meeting
processes. This will allow teachers to use EGRA and EGMA to assess the impact of their own
teaching, and to remediate where needed. In particular, the process identifies learners who
have failed to learn to decode words and understand the basics of numeracy, and the teacher
can then target these for extra support and tuition.
Another positive aspect of NEGLANA is that it provides data on every learner annually that
can be consolidated to provide a national picture of literacy and numeracy levels, as well as
regularly measure progress across the country. At the regional level, NEGLANA will provide
data on every early grade learner and teacher’s performance, allowing for targeted training
and support. Finally, while this literacy and numeracy drive will be relatively cost-effective it
will require secured funding.
4.6. Plenary: How the four systemic priorities will transform the
education system and contribute to meeting SDG4
•
Dr. Patrick Simalumba (Director, NIED) and Dr. Martin Prew (University of
Witwatersrand and Mzabalazo)
The presentation summarized the key points from the four transformative initiatives.
These are:
1. Innovative Financing and Domestic Resource Mobilisation to Transform Education,

Arts and Culture.
2. Improved Office Efficiencies in the MoEAC.
3. Transformation of Teacher Training.
4. The National Early Grade Literacy and Numeracy Assessment Initiative (NEGLANA).
43
The presentation argued that if all four initiatives are implemented, they will collectively have
a transforming impact on the education system and make for improved learner outcomes.
Mobilising more funding so that education becomes a cost-sharing venture is the basis for the
other three systemic priorities while itself improving community engagement with education.
To have full effect this funding needs to be better managed through greatly improved office
structures and functions. The second initiative is aimed at creating the institutional structures
and processes that will underpin widespread system improvement. Finally, the above will be
in vain if the learning foundations are not in place. Therefore, the last two initiatives focus on
improving teaching and early grade literacy and numeracy. These will provide the necessary
educational foundations for learners to improve performance, which in turn will improve the
internal efficiency of the education system.
Improved learner performance and internal efficiencies in the system are critical if Namibia
is to attain the goals of SDG4.
44
CHAPTER 5 Implementation modalities
towards transformation
Having presented the important initiatives to transform the education system and delivery
to schools, this session encouraged participants to engage in deeper examination of some
aspects of these initiatives. Parallel sessions were organised along the key transforming
education themes which provided the conference participants an opportunity to select the
key areas of interest and investigate them in more detail. A review of the implementation
of Jolly Phonics (a child centred approach to teaching literacy through synthetic phonics),
relates to the Early Grade Reading initiative; the training of transformative teachers by teacher
training institutions explores an aspect of the Teacher Training initiative; while the use of digital
technologies to transform education and lifelong learning, and regional office transformation,
speak to office efficiencies and the systemic changes required to make the education system
more efficient, effective and cost effective.
The parallel session was chaired by Mr. Paulus Nghikembua (Director, Khomas Region).
5.1 Parallel Session: Initiative to improve reading skills foundation at

Junior Primary level, using the Jolly Phonics whole-class approach
to active learning - lessons from Oshana
•
Ms. Hileni Amukana (Director, Oshana Region). Moderator: Ms. Angeline
Jantze, (Director, Kunene Region)
Jolly Phonics was first implemented in Namibia at the Ehomba Primary School in the Kunene
region in 2009, while in the Oshana region it was further piloted in six schools in 2017. Other
regions began to adopt Jolly Phonics in their schools in 2018 and it is intended to be rolled out
nationally. The overall aim of this project is to ensure that Grade 1 learners in public primary
schools acquire essential foundational English literacy skills that will guarantee later academic
success throughout their school career and beyond. This programme is necessary, as many
learners are struggling to learn to read in the Foundation Phase.
Ms. Amukana explained that Jolly Phonics was broadly implemented in schools in the Oshana
region in 2019, with teachers being trained to deliver the programme in their schools. 75% of
Oshana primary schools have implemented the programme – more than in other regions. As it
rolled out nationally, 57 Junior Primary Senior Education Officers (SEOs), from all 14 regions in
the country were trained in Jolly Phonics, Jolly Grammar (1 and 2) and Jolly Monitor training. In
addition, the trained SEOs were provided with access to the Jolly Phonics and Jolly Grammar
Online CPD courses.
In total 2,665 Grade 1 teachers have been trained on the knowledge and skills to effectively
teach children to read and write in English using Jolly Phonics. As Namibia is the first country
to have fully adopted Jolly Phonics nationally, The Jolly Learning Company Ltd. has to date
donated books worth NAD 13 million, and training to the value of NAD 15 million. The Ministry
has also committed more than NAD 2 million to the project.
45
Recommendations include:
• Jolly Phonics be implemented in every school in the Junior Primary phase to

enable the Ministry to achieve one of its strategic objectives as per our strategic
plan (2017/18 – 2021/22), which strives to ‘improve core skills in literacy in basic
education.’
• Sufficient budget be allocated to support the implementation of Jolly Phonics
nationally. Procurement of Jolly Phonics materials should be done on time.
• There is a need to train Heads of Departments (HoDs), for them to be able to
support teachers as they implement Jolly Phonics.
• In line with the NEGLANA Early Grade Reading Programme this investment
needs to be supplemented with national implementation of EGRA, as this will
complement the Jolly Phonics intervention.
In response, Ministry personnel suggested that literacy development strategies need to be

included in the next National Development Plan and to ensure that the literacy development
plan in the Junior Primary phase is included in the Ministry’s Strategic Plan.
5.2a The role of tertiary education institutions in producing teachers

equipped to transform the education system
•

Presenter: Dr. John Nyambe (Associate Dean School of Education, UNAM).
Moderator: Mr. Paulus Kashiimbi (Deputy Director NIED)
Teachers operate within three layers: structure, culture and agency. Types of agency and
typologies of teacher education were presented to participants. Dr Nyambe asserted that
primary agency teachers do not challenge the pedagogy they are being inducted into, while
transformative or corporate agents do so. Primary agents see training as a way of gaining
skills and see education as an apolitical activity, in which they are not meant to question or
criticise the status quo. In contrast, where teachers are viewed as agents of change, teacher
education is seen as a political endeavour, which creates knowledge and is critically grounded
in social justice pedagogy.
The way forward for teacher education should be to:
• Transform teacher training curricular to produce knowledgeable, strong teachers

who constitute the cutting edge of the education system, spearheading and
driving the transformation agenda.
• Generate transformative teachers by training them with a deliberate ideological/
political orientation. There must be a clearly articulated transformation agenda,
as was the case in the ‘Towards Education for All’ initiative.
• Teacher education programmes must advocate new pedagogies such as critical/
transformative pedagogy and social justice pedagogy, that go beyond learner-
centred pedagogy.
46
Discussion focused on how NQTs lack the practical knowledge to teach and have not been
exposed to the national standards and key policies which they need to understand to teach
effectively. Participants supported the proposed return to the Basic Education Teacher’s
Diploma (BETD) – a pre-service programme to teach basic education - which they argued
prepared teachers to teach and gave them philosophical foundations for their teaching. In
addition, it was asserted that high order thinking skills, critical thinking, and practical work are
not thoroughly taught in schools, even though the teachers are often tertiary level graduates.
At the other end of the schooling cycle, it was argued that teachers are failing to teach
learners to read. This indicates that student teachers are not being adequately prepared for
the job that awaits them. There were also calls for the decolonisation of the teacher education
curriculum, and a plea for more Masters programmes to be offered locally, so that teachers are
not compelled to seek this qualification externally.
In response, the presenter argued that many of the challenges faced by teachers in the
education system could only be addressed by the introduction of a teacher regulatory body.
5.2b Advancement of technology and transformation in library and

archive services.
•

Presenter: Ms. Sarah Negumbo, (Director, National Library and National
Archives - NLAS)
Moderator: Mr. Paulus Kashiimbi (Deputy Director NIED)
Ms. Negumbo stated that the 47 public libraries across Namibia should not only be regarded
as ‘quiet’ places, but rather as places where various activities can take place. Public libraries
currently offer information and archive services, and increasingly provide access to reliable
ICT and internet services.
However, the library service faces significant challenges, including:
• Insufficient ICT equipment and low internet bandwidth.

• Unresponsive staffing structure for libraries, archives and registries, and
restricted opening hours.
• Lack of ICT personnel in the regions to provide technical support to libraries.
• Lack of qualified archivists in the MoEAC, to ensure the safety of Government
records, posing a challenge to the implementation of the Electronic Document
and Records Management System (EDRMS).
• Inadequate budgetary allocation to improve the infrastructure of libraries and
archives.
• Poor recognition of the developmental roles of libraries and archives (in particular,
school libraries,) in support of quality education in the country.
• Lack of digitisation equipment at the NLAS, and insufficient storage space to
preserve digital records.
47
As a result of these concerns NLAS recommends:
• Provision of additional funding to improve the library infrastructure, improve ICT

integration and digitize resources, as well as expanding storage, and backup
equipment.
• Redirect efforts to the functionality of school libraries and ensure that all schools
are provided with standard and well-stocked libraries, staffed by professional
librarians.
• The staffing structure at libraries and archives needs to be reviewed to be
responsive to the ever-changing services and needs in this digital era.
• Record management needs to be professionalised to ensure that records with
historical, fiscal, and legal impact are accurately managed for future planning,
accountability, decision-making and policy updates.
Participants commented that libraries in some schools are turned into classrooms which is
hampering the development of a reading culture to improve reading. among children.
48
5.3 Digital technologies and transforming education and lifelong
learning
•

Mr. Abhiyan Jung Rana (Regional Adviser for Education, UNICEF ESARO)
Moderator: Mr. Geoffrey Shakwa, (Head, Professional Development Unit,
Namibia University of Science and Technology - NUST)
This session focused on the importance of reimagining education, to address the alarming
challenges experienced by many children globally, which have been exacerbated by the
COVID-19 pandemic. The presenter cited alarming global data on the impact of COVID-19
on education from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO), UNICEF and the World Bank. For example, 463 million learners had no access to
remote learning when schools closed during the lockdowns, with a further 2.9 billion people
(90% of whom are in developing countries), who continue to be left behind because they are
still offline. In addition, an estimated 70% of 10-year-olds are unable to read a simple sentence
– up from 53 percent before the pandemic – while 24 million additional students may drop
out of the school system, with the most marginalised risking falling even further behind. It is
estimated, that this will result in a US$ 17 trillion loss in future earnings.
To ensure access to digital technologies and transform education and lifelong learning,
the importance of leveraging technology for education recovery and UNICEF’s vision and
approach to digital learning was shared with participants. Ensuring access to technologies
means that children should be able to access both online, offline or semi-online technologies
anywhere, and not only at school, but also at home, and in emergency contexts.
The five components for reimagining education are:
• World class digital learning,

• Connectivity,
• Devices,
• Affordable data and content, and
• Young people’s engagement.
UNICEF’s Digital Learning Rubric was introduced – a system which will be used to advocate
for more equitable, scalable, effective digital learning solutions, and which can be used both
online as well as offline with limited connectivity and can function on low-cost devices. Most
importantly, these devices are also accessible and inclusive for children with disabilities,
contextualised and translated into local languages. In addition, the rubric supports foundational
literacy and numeracy in the classroom, at home and in development and humanitarian
settings, by building the capacity of school leaders and teachers to integrate ICT in school
management. It also contributes to developing the digital competencies of children and youth,
empowers caregivers to support digital learning at home, and to engage young people as co-
creators and agents of change.
49
The connectivity divide between rich and poor children in Namibia
43% in the wealthiest households

2% in the poorest households
54%
of youth
do not have
necessary
digital skills
22% of urban children
9% of rural children
Other challenges associated with digital technologies include an increase in cyber-bullying,

access to inappropriate content, as well as unavailability of content in local languages.
There is an urgent need to connect schools, communities and learners to the internet, and
digital learning opportunities and skills in a sustainable, affordable, and meaningful way.
Priority should be given to the poorest communities. The government needs to consider
partnerships with local and global providers such as multinational organisations, mobile phone
manufacturers, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), and UNICEF. To address the
gender and social divide, male gatekeepers need to understand that girls must be able to
access the internet and that they must provide quality content in local languages.
Addressing the digital divide focuses on four key areas:
• Affordable access to the internet at school and in the home.

• Equitable access for girls, children with disabilities, and marginalised groups.
• Digital literacy of children and parents to use the internet, and to do so safely.
• The provision of quality, online content in relevant languages.
Enabling factors for digital transformation include the financing of national ICT in education
plans, with clear accountabilities focused on equitable scale-up, access to affordable ICT
infrastructure prioritising under-served populations with digital learning and strengthening
the monitoring and evaluation of the equitable reach, and effectiveness of digital learning
programmes.
50
5.4 Regional Education Office (REO) Transformation
• Presenter: Dr. Martin Prew, (Visiting Fellow University of Witwatersrand &

Mzabalazo
Moderator: Mr. Manfred Gaeb (Deputy Director, Arts, MoEAC)
Regional Education Offices (REOs) are the face of the MoEAC for schools and the public, and
weak or poorly managed regional offices allow schools to be weak. Many issues raised during
the regional consultations and in the NCE-2011 point to regional directorates not operating
optimally. Dr. Prew asserted that if the regional offices work well, schools will work better and
be more accountable, avoiding much of the cost of system, school, teacher, and learner failure.
Barriers to REOs working optimally include:
• REOs being typified by silos and being too complex, with a multiplicity of sections.
• Regions often having confused and duplicated lines of communication.
• Many key posts being vacant, impacting on delivery.
• Too little time being spent by frontline officers in school, and too much time
spent on crisis management.
• Regions looking up, waiting for instructions instead of looking down, providing
services to schools.
• Planning not being respected, and only done for compliance.
• Lack of delivery on planned activities leading schools to work in spite of the
regional office, creating a dangerous situation, as it leaves the schooling system
fragmented.
• No national policy on how REOs should work, clarifying their roles and
responsibilities.
The result is frustration, low quality delivery and wasted time.
Suggested improvements include:
• Effective REOs which allow schools to be effective.

• Regions delivering services and support to schools, as they are the “fulcrum
around which education change and improvement pivot.” (Prew 2005)
Regional education managers have indicated that they would welcome change. Concentrating
on transforming the 14 regional offices is much easier and cheaper than changing the
thousands of schools across the country. Once the REO is working effectively, schools can be
more effective. Schools require and deserve effective REOs.
Further, an Organisational Development (OD) process to improve the REOs is advocated.
51
OD is the alignment of financial and human resources to the objectives and priorities of the
organisation, as follows:
• REOs should be guided through an OD process which amongst others deals

with multiple lines of accountability and moving towards the national policy of
decentralisation.
• REO structures need to be reviewed to increase efficiency and impact.
• Planning by REOs needs to be respected by head office, particularly in relation
to school support. In addition, the REOs need to be capacitated to co-ordinate,
support and implement teacher induction and CPD more effectively.
The result should be regional ownership, greater efficiencies, happier, more productive
officers, and cost saving.
The following case study was presented in support of this process:
CASE STUDY OF MID-LEVEL TRANSFORMATION:

SOSHANGUVE DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT, SOUTH AFRICA
Initial discussions with District Director of poorest performing district in

province: frustrations identified.
OD plan formulated with management team.
Head Office informed of process.
OD process: whole staff workshop.

Defined vision of district.
Each unit presented what they do, how they do it and how they would work
with other units.
Units agreed to work together.
Annual delivery plan developed.

All schools provided with the delivery plan and the district delivery
statement. This created expectation of change.
Gaps in district team skills were identified and training and support
provided.
District office developed a school development plan (SDP) template.

All schools were required to develop a SDP using the template with their
community, based on community expectations.
SDPs collected by district office and used as the basis for the District
Development Plan (DDP). DDP took precedence over all other demands.
Head Office informed of the process and that the district needed to be given
a month’s notice of any planned activities.
After 3 years this district was the best performing district in

the province and remained so a decade later.
52
The effects of improved REO functioning would be:
• Budget savings through better efficiencies and coordination – reducing function

fragmentation and the silo-effect, and wastage.
• Improved REO internal communications and functions, with happier, more
fulfilled staff.
• Renewed respect for planning and plans.
• Maximising time in school by REO officials, helping improve school-level impact
and inclusion.
• Clearer lines of, and improved levels of, accountability in schools and the REO.
• Greater support for the policy on decentralisation and community funding of
schools.
• Overall, reduced crisis management.
On the way forward, the following is needed:
• Clear process is documented and shared.

• A visible commitment to process by political and bureaucratic leadership of the
Ministry.
• Identification of one REO (which should be accessible, low on the national
ranking; with experience of success, and where the leadership is committed and
prepared to change), to participate in a pilot study.
• Space is created for the process to unfold.
• Appointment of an internal or external facilitator to work with ALL regional staff
in the pilot REO.
• Head office should allow the process to unfold organically.
• The journey is monitored and observed by other regional managers.
• If successful, this process is replicated in other REOs.
53
5.5 Family Literacy Programme (FLP) to improve literacy skills of
Grade 1 learners
•

Presenter: Ms. Lydia Aipinge (Deputy Director: Adult Education)
Moderator: Ms. Aletta Thanises-Eises, (Director, Oshikoto Region)
Literacy begins at home, with families as the ‘First Teacher.’ The Family Literacy Programme
(FLP) was piloted from May to June 2004, and implementation in five centres per region started
in 2006. The programme builds on the notion that ‘education is a shared responsibility’ and
aims at equipping parents of Grade 1 learners with the necessary skills to assist and better
guide their children with homework, reading and writing through easy methods and interactive
parent-child literacy-based activities.
The benefits of the programme include:
• Introducing parents and guardians to the Grade 1 curriculum.

• Boosting the confidence of parents and guardians in supporting their children in
Grade 1 with schoolwork.
• Narrowing the gap between the content learnt at school, and the child’s abilities.
• Promoting functional literacy to adult learners to be meaningful and relevant at
home level.
• Equipping parents with skills, irrespective of their educational background or
socio-economic status.
• Providing support to learners at home during school disruptions due to
pandemics/natural disasters.
• Motivating children to attend school regularly, especially those in rural schools.
The programme has strengthened parent-teacher relationships, creating more parental

interest in school activities, and improved learner confidence in storytelling and singing. It has
also contributed to the development of literacy and improved communication through dance
and drama.
Implementation challenges include the relatively low participation of men in the process,
seasonal agricultural activities impacting on attendance, migration, and delays in government
procurement processes. There is also a misconception by elders that educating children is
solely the task of teachers.
54
CHAPTER 6 Inclusive, equitable, safe and
healthy schools
Inclusive, equitable, safe and healthy schools is the first of the UN’s priority tracks. The key
to successful education is predicated on making sure access to schools is inclusive and
equitable, particularly for girls and children from the most marginalized communities, and
children living with disabilities. For learner success, schools need to be safe and based on
the understanding that all children and youth can succeed. The reality, however, is that many
schools are not accessible, inclusive and safe: as a result, poor quality teaching and learning
predominates, in many schools, across many countries. These challenges speak to the need
for transformation, not merely reform.
The session was chaired by Mr. Pecka Semba, Chief Regional Officer, Omaheke Region.
6.1 Plenary: Enhancing school health, safety and inclusion,

particularly in relation to recovery from under-investment and
COVID-19
• Ms Edda Bohn (Deputy Executive Director, MoEAC)
The current challenges include poor or ineffective implementation of policies at school

level, incorrect interpretation of the policies (often for religious or cultural reasons), and the
interference of “harmful cultural practices.” Some of the implementation problems stem
from poor coordination between implementing units, and insufficient material and financial
resources.
In addition, social problems abound. High learner pregnancy rates remain an issue, and
have been particularly concerning during COVID-19, which has had a negative effect overall
on the schooling system. Alcohol and substance abuse among the youth remains a huge
problem in many communities, where it spills over into the local schools. These problems
are compounded by poor or insufficient parenting skills, leaving children and youth without
proper value systems and discipline.
There are several issues which relate to children with different impairments, including a lack of
resources in the system to cater for these children adequately, and a lack of health screening
services with skilled staff, to assist parents and teachers with the early identification of learners
with disabilities.
The subject of Life Skills remains a challenge, as it was at the NCE-2011. It is still not a promotional
subject and is often poorly taught by demotivated teachers with too many learners to attend
to. In addition, these teachers often lack the self-confidence to teach sensitive topics well,
particularly those touching on sexual reproductive health.
Another area of concern is the low level of parental engagement in the Namibia School Feeding
Programme (NSFP), with those involved often demanding payment for their involvement.
55
The Ministry has been creating an enabling environment with policies in place such as the
Sector Policy on Inclusive Education, the Integrated School Health Policy, the Management
and Prevention of Learner Pregnancy, Childcare and Protection Act, as well as Integrated
School Health Initiatives, and the NSFP – including the new Home-Grown School Feeding
Programme, and the Namibia School Sports for Development Programme, which all assist in
enhancing school health and safety.
The government has also established coordinating structures such as the National School
Health Task Force, cascaded at the regional level. The Ministry has been training teachers
to deal with learner psychosocial issues and has actively assisted schools in dealing with the
impact of COVID-19.
6.2 Plenary panel session: Parental and community participation in

education leading to positive learning outcomes
•

Moderator: Dr Theophelus Kamupingene (Retired Director PQA)
Panelists: Learners, Community, religious and traditional leaders, NGOs,
Parents and Media
This session highlighted challenges related to parental participation in education and raised
several recommendations to ensure meaningful parental and community involvement in
education.
Schools should encourage parents to contribute to the education of their children, with the
understanding that ‘quality education is a shared responsibility.’ Issues that negatively impact
on education, such as cultural practices affecting access to education, especially for girls, was
addressed. Despite the introduction of UPE and USE, some orphans and other vulnerable
children are not in school due to poverty.
Some parents want to be involved in the education of their children but do not know how to
engage. Schools should therefore develop a culture of parents’ meetings and make the effort
to orientate new parents to the expectations regarding their child’s education and how they
can assist.
High levels of learner pregnancies, violence and abuse, including sexual assaults and rape
were highlighted as serious concerns impacting on education and development. A register of
offenders should be developed so that perpetrators who have been identified and punished
are also backlisted.
Learners called on the Ministry to investigate oppressive policies such as learners being
forced to cut their hair by school authorities. It was pointed out that such policies do not relate
to positive learning outcomes and quality education.
56
Parents requested MoEAC support for access to social grants and schooling for orphans and
vulnerable children, including learners with disabilities, and those who do not have national
documents.
6.3 Plenary: Paper on boys dropping out of school
• Dr Marius Kudumo, UNAM
Dr Kudumo’s presentation focused on why Namibian boys are underachieving in education,

and what accounted for the disparity in academic performance between male and female
learners and students.
One main finding is that some boys underachieve because they are “lazy, are given freedom
by their parents to aimlessly roam around, are not interested in school, do not actively
participate in performing household chores at home, do not actively participate in their
classes and frequently absent themselves from school.”
Some parents are seen as not caring about what their sons are doing, and how they spend
their time. These parents neither give their sons responsibilities at home nor show concern
about their son’s education and welfare. Boys should be given opportunities to be of service to
others in school, in the family, and in the community. Child rearing beliefs, values and practices
should be adapted to current societal values that are informed by human rights, inclusivity,
equality and equity. Boys should be raised to respect the value of education and be motivated
to focus and work hard in education from an early age. Equally, such boys should be urged to
engage actively in class, and their absence from school should be appropriately addressed.
57
58
CHAPTER 7 Digital learning and
transformation
The 4th TES track Digital learning and transformation, describes how technology can play
a critical role in driving greater school inclusivity and effectiveness. It is a catalyst requiring
investment in hard-, and software, and skills development. When employed well – and where
the focus is on good pedagogy rather than the hardware and software – it is empowering for
both teachers and learners. However, in many countries due to a lack of electricity, connectivity
and skills in many communities, access to digital learning tends to favour the privileged and
not those who could benefit most. Transformation of the education system in Namibia must
take this into account and ensure inclusive access.
The session was chaired by Dr. Alfred van Kent (Executive Director MHETI).
7.1 Digital innovation and access to ICTs
• Honourable Peya Mushelenga, (Minister, MICT)
The Namibian government has prioritised the provision of ICT through its Vision 2030 plan,
and the creation of the Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (MICT) in 2008
and has developed a responsive ICT Legislation and Regulatory Framework. The government
has established Rural ICT Centres in all 14 regions of Namibia to bring ICT services closer to
the furthest communities, which has resulted in access to internet connectivity as follows:
ICT coverage presently looks like this: 95% of Namibians are covered by 2G; 89% by 3G; 79%
by 4G and 90% by broadband.
However, while great strides have been made, the sector continues to grapple with challenges
such as lack of modern ICT Infrastructure due to expensive telecommunication networks, high
import taxes, and lack of understanding of the relevance of ICT which results in low resource
provision, and usage of available ICT capacity. In addition, due to insufficient provision of
electricity, access to the internet is limited in rural communities and schools. Furthermore,
the sector is challenged with inadequate human and financial resources, which impacts on
quality-of-service provision, as well as teaching of ICT in school.
MICT is currently drafting and reviewing legislation and policies to accelerate ICT access and
innovation, which includes the Cybercrime Bill, Data Protection Bill, Access to Information Bill,
Amendment of the Communications Act, and the review of ICT Policies and consolidation into
a National ICT Policy.
In addition, the Ministry is enhancing multi-stakeholder collaboration to increase digital literacy

in Namibia and conducting basic ICT training for communities through the Multi-Purpose
Community Centres. The Ministry is also collaborating with GIGA (a UNICEF-ITU initiative to
connect every school to the Internet and every young person to information, opportunity and
choice), to map school locations to determine the state of school connectivity in Namibia.
59
7.2 Transforming education in Namibia through responsive and
inclusive digital learning
• Mr. Maurice Nkusi (Acting Director, Teaching and Learning Unit, NUST)
Mr. Nkusi focused on how to transform education through responsive future-oriented digital
learning, with a focus on four major human capacities: collaboration, communication, critical
reflection, and creativity.
Transforming education should be informed by radical change in how schools facilitate learning,
and how the youth are prepared to cope in the rapidly changing world, by ensuring balance
between cognitive and non-cognitive skills. To be successful in transforming education, it is
important to analyse the current curriculum, ensure alignment to the attributes of education
transformation and address contemporary issues.
Learners should be taught and encouraged to understand current challenges, and to transform
these challenges into opportunity.
To strengthen access to digital technologies in education through smart pedagogies, some

key aspects need to be considered, including:
• Transforming teachers and learners not only as competent users of technologies

but also as developers of innovations.
• Supporting learning through technologies.
• Learning analytics.
• Expanding beyond teaching and learning.
Recommendations include:
• Establishing robust infrastructures for including modified technology ecosystems

for rural and disadvantaged communities.
• Developing a roadmap with clear connection to the techno-pedagogy paradigm
to enrich the learning experience of learners to prepare for the fourth industrial
revolution (4IR).
• Developing quality digital learning materials, together with the offline components
of these digital resources for disadvantaged communities.
• Including offline resources for adult literacy and lifelong learning.
• Developing ICT standards to ensure conformity across sectors.
• Developing additional curriculum dimensions, such as invention, condensed and
artificial intelligence curricula to prepare learners to be effective in the 4IR and
beyond. A digital education strategy and framework, which should be inclusive of
learners with disabilities is necessary to transform digital education in Namibia.
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7.3 System Re-engineering: Transforming Educational High-Stake
Data through OpenEMIS
• Dr. Elizabeth Ndjendja (Deputy Director, Directorate of National
Examinations
and Assessment - DNEA)
Dr. Ndendja introduced the importance of high-stake national examinations, and the impact of
the 2012 national curriculum reform, which has introduced major changes to the examinations
administered by the MoEAC. The reform process compelled the Ministry to review its EDMS,
used to effectively and efficiently manage the examination data based on the revised
curriculum, to ensure registration of candidates for the examinations from 2020 onwards and
to extend functionality that ensures the richness of various data output.
Traditional Educational Management Information Systems (EMIS) have evolved over the years
but have isolated high-stakes examination data. Isolation results in the under-utilisation of
high-stakes examination data in educational policy formulation, educational planning and
budgeting. There is therefore a great need to maximise the benefit of high-stakes examination
data by intertwining the data with the tested curricular, to improve data quality through the
interoperability of data systems within the education sector, as well as with other data systems.
The MoEAC embarked on a project to review and develop a new Education Data Management
System with support from UNICEF and Community System Foundation (CSF). A new system
called OpenEMIS Exams was developed for MoEAC, based on the requirements determined
during the analysis phase.
OpenEMIS is a high-quality open-source education management information system, which

was conceived by UNESCO, and developed in partnership with the CSF. Developed using
latest technology standards and best practices, OpenEMIS captures information on learners
with special education needs. In addition, it is an easy-to-use web-based application, which
can design certificate templates, and customise reports.
Benefits of the new system include:
• Allows the Ministry to better understand all learners’ performance;

• Supports the implementation of the inclusive education policy;
• Improves efficiency by reducing operating times;
• Is interoperable with other MoEAC data systems (EMIS);
• Has contributed to reduced support and operating costs, along with reduced
risks related to the use of old infrastructure;
• Facilitates online exam registration; and
• Allows data to speak.
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CHAPTER 8 Two key challenges
The conference was designed to speak to the five TES pillars, and to drive change in the
MoEAC. The following papers address specific changes which are critical for the Ministry to
better serve the education needs of the nation, and to achieve the SDGs. The first addressed
the Government’s critical decision to move ECD from the Ministry of Gender Equity, Poverty
Eradication and Social Welfare (MGEPESW) to MoEAC. The second included two papers
looking at pre-vocational provision, and TVET responses to basic education reforms.
The session was moderated by Ms. Martha Mbombo (Deputy Executive Director, MGEPESW).
8.1 Plenary: Relocation of ECD to the MoEAC, renamed Early

Childhood Education (ECE)
•

Ms. Edda Bohn (Deputy Executive Director, MoEAC), Ms. Rosina
Mubonenwa (Director Community Development and ECD, MGEPESW),
and Mr. Engenas Senona (Education Specialist, UNICEF South Africa)
Mr Senona shared his experience on the process of transferring ECD from the Department of
Social Welfare to the Education Department in South Africa. It is strongly recommended that
the entire ECD phase is moved, including the ‘conception to 2 years’ phase. He explained that
the benefits in alignment and continuity far outweigh the challenges.
The benefits of the transfer of ECD to the MoEAC would allow the Ministry to strengthen pre-
school access and learning for all children. This, in turn, will contribute to long term returns
on investment by reducing high repetition rates in the early grades, reducing the risk of high
dropout rates, and increasing higher secondary school completion rates. In addition, ECD can
also contribute to reducing poverty, especially amongst women, by empowering them to seek
employment in the sector.
The need for holistic systemic thinking and planning for the transfer process should consider
the distinction between ‘Function Move,’ which involves the migration of ECD from one
department to another, and ‘Function Improvement’ which aligns the ECD sector with a
particular vision. Function improvement may include improving ECD teacher qualifications,
through the development of a human resource development (HRD) Strategy and ECD data. In
addition, focus should be placed on ensuring adequate funding for early learning programmes.
The establishment of a Steering Committee represented by various stakeholders was
recommended to oversee the transfer process. Extensive stakeholder consultations are also
critical to ensure ownership of the process. Finally, conducting a national ECD Census will
provide data and strategic guidance to the receiving Ministry in terms of human and finance
resource implications.
The transfer of ECD to the MoEAC would

allow the Ministry to strengthen pre-school
access and learning for all children.
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8.2 Plenary: Paper 1: Pre-vocational pathways in basic education
•

Ms. Rachel Philander (CEO: PQA, MoEAC) & Ms. Willemien Wannberg
(Deputy Director NIED, MoEAC)
Plenary: Paper 2: TVET response to basic education reform:

trends and emerging areas of skills for future work
•

Dr. Raimo Naanda (Deputy Executive Director, Ministry of Higher
Education, Training and Innovation – MHETI)
This session focused on the challenges faced by youth, both globally and nationally due to
a lack of adequate education and employment opportunities. Youth population growth puts
severe pressure on the education and training system of many countries because of demands
on infrastructure and resource allocation, creating a higher demand for school, college and
university placements, and buildings to accommodate them. Coupled with infrastructure
demands, pressure is put on Treasury for more budgetary allocation.
According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), Africa’s population will triple by 2050. The
importance of understanding the impact of the demands of a growing youth population on
Namibia is therefore crucial when reforming the education and training systems.
Global technological advancements over the past decades have changed the way of life
and have created demand for new skills in the workplace. The MoEAC has embarked on a
programme of introducing pre-vocational subjects, including entrepreneurship, in secondary
and combined schools, and a technical stream in some secondary schools to cater for this
change and pressure.
With the rapid technological advancement in the workplace, employers now demand new
sets of skills to be imparted by the education and training systems. Soft skills, generic skills,
core skills, transferable skills, employability skills etc. are collectively the skills required by
workplaces to drive the 4IR, and these should be integrated in the school curriculum.
To address the demands of the growing youth population and the needs of Namibian society,
the MoEAC has undertaken a curriculum reform, whereby pre-vocational subjects, integrated
in the basic education curriculum, are offered from the junior primary phases through to
senior secondary grades. Pre-vocational subjects are also offered to learners with learning
difficulties, registered on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF) at Level 1. Technical
subjects at Senior Secondary level were discontinued in 2004 and replaced by Design and
Technology. Other technical subjects were re-introduced during reviews of the curriculum.
Some of the achievements highlighted include the development of prevocational skills

from a young age, and more vocational subjects offered, thereby providing a wider range
for career options, and contributing to Vision 2030 in terms of a knowledge-based society.
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More learners leave school with better job opportunities and during job attachment, some are
already offered jobs.
Despite the efforts being made, challenges remain, including:
• negative societal perceptions about technical vocational education;

• learners do not always know what they want to do when choosing subjects;
• a lack of qualified technical teachers; and
• not all teachers follow inclusive teaching and assessment modes.
In response to strengthening technical vocational education, the Ministry has revised the
TVET Policy, which is aimed at responding to international, regional and local imperatives.
The revised TVET Policy seeks to address five key priority areas:
• Improving governance and management.

• Enhancing quality and relevance of programmes.
• Increasing access and equity.
• Promoting research and innovation.
• Diversifying sources of funding and equitable financing.
While this was praised, many raised concerns that the training institutions were not training
enough teachers for these subjects, and these subjects are not given the prominence in
schools which they deserve. A particular concern raised from the audience was that too few
schools offer the technical stream, and those that do, often do not provide adequate career
pathway guidance for students in that stream.
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CHAPTER 9 Reflections on TES tracks
Moderated by Mr. Ben Nangombe (Executive Director, MoHSS).
Parallel Sessions:
9.1 How do we transform Life Skills-based HIV/AIDS and health

education to address early and unintended pregnancy?
•

Moderator: Mr. Robert Munganda (CEO, NIED, MoEAC)
Presenter: Mr. Julius Nghifikwa (MoEAC)
This session highlighted concerns over the unacceptably high levels of learner pregnancies,
which peaked during the COVID-19 lockdown. The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened an
already worrying situation as it saw a rapid rise in poverty levels, and large numbers of children
and youth not returning to school after schools reopened following months of closure. School
closure also resulted in a rise in HIV rates among girls aged 15 to 19.
The Ministry is implementing the Policy on the Prevention and Management of Learner
Pregnancy, which allows pregnant learners to remain in school, and mother learners to return
after giving birth so that they can continue with their education. Currently, however, pregnant
girls are forced out of school by principals and communities who do not seem to be aware of
this policy or ignore it.
The challenge of access to sanitary pads, menstrual health, and hygiene management in
school was also raised.
The School Feeding Programme started in 1991 as a pilot project, supported by the World
Food Program (WFP). The programme was fully taken over by the Ministry in 1996. To date, the
programme benefits 461,800 learners from 1,514 schools. The programme is transitioning to
the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (HSFP), which has been piloted in 29 schools in
seven regions. The HSFP encourages schools and communities to grow the food, to support
local farming communities and thus create employment. It also takes the provisioning away
from commercial enterprises and puts it into the hands of the school and its community.
9.2 Traditional Life Skills Project
• Moderator 2: Ms. Leena Mbango (CEO, Directorate of Adult Education,

MoEAC)
Presenter 2: Mr. Armas Kashiimbi (Deputy Director, Lifelong Learning,
Arts and Culture, Ohangwena)
The Ministry has the mandate to promote arts and culture though education and lifelong
learning, and education should transmit the cultural heritage of the society to the younger
generation.
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The traditional Life Skills programme, as integrated in the school curriculum, promotes and
facilitates the transfer of traditional life skills, values, norms and customs from the adults in a
given community to the learners.
The goals are:
• To reduce barriers between different cultures and promote tolerance for cultural
diversity.
• To develop a sense of pride within learners for their cultural heritage and thereby
keep their culture alive.
• To promote a creative and entrepreneurial attitude among the learners and equip
them with practical knowledge and skills.
• To promote parental involvement and strengthen the relationship between the
school and the community.
• Challenges include staffing and capacity at schools and regional levels, and
a lack of mobilisation and sensitisation of communities to understand and
appreciate the importance of the programme.
• The presenters recommended the following:
• Strengthen regional and ministerial support towards the programme.
• Issue a Ministerial circular on Traditional Life Skills Programme to direct and
provide guidance.
• Build capacity of staff members responsible for this programme in the regions.
• Allocate resources at all levels towards this programme.
• Encourage schools to take ownership of the programme.
• Introduce parent and teacher incentives to enhance their participation.
• Harmonise the Traditional Life Skills Programme with the School Culture Clubs
for Development.
9.3 Transforming education through teacher professionalization,

including consideration of the Teacher Regulatory Body
•

Moderator: Dr. John Nyambe (UNAM)
Presenter: Prof. Kenneth Kamwi Matengu (Vice-Chancellor, UNAM)
The establishment of a research-driven professional Teacher Regulatory Body is essential

to regulate the profession for the future, to promote teacher learning, student learning,
and eventually promote teaching as a profession. A standard is also necessary to reduce
performance disparities, and to drive teacher professionalism.
Why is professionalism important in education? What does it mean? Does it mean there are
no professionals now? Currently there are no regulated professional bodies for educators
and the attributes of the profession (standards, induction, registration, CPD, evaluation of
performance, etc.), are all weak or non-existent in the teaching field. Similar to other countries
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such as Brazil, this feeds into low status and low public perception of teachers while teachers
in China, who are regulated, are highly regarded. He further argued that teaching is not purely
a job but a vocation.
Of concern is the fact that Namibian teachers are not prepared to teach at AS level and this
needs to be addressed urgently.
In addition, there are several problems with the education system across the continent,
including:
• In Africa, in general, knowledge production is weak, and universities are not

highly ranked.
• Research to influence change is lacking in Africa.
• Teachers are not spending enough time in schools.
• The lack of qualified teachers in the primary sector.
Doubt and questioning are the basis of understanding, and it is very important that teachers
engage critically with what they teach.
The audience agreed with the main thrust of the presentation – particularly the need to
establish a teacher regulatory authority. Some further argued that the regulatory authority
would need to licence teachers, include an ethics committee, and must be an autonomous
body. Others used the occasion and the presence of the Vice-Chancellor of the University
of Namibia (UNAM) to revive concerns about the lack of CPD for teachers and criticised the
training of teachers by UNAM.
9.4 Improving higher education through minimum standards
Moderator: Mr. Paulus Lewin (Deputy Director, Khomas region)

Presenter: Ms. Sylvia Demas (Deputy Executive Director, National Council for Higher Education
- NCHE)
Higher education institutions (HEIs) are expected to produce graduates with the required
knowledge, skills, and attributes, to be able to compete in diverse activities both nationally
and globally. To ensure integrity of qualifications and uphold high academic standards,
a Quality Assurance (QA) system was established. The QA system consists of assessment
of institutional abilities, policies, systems, and processes, evaluation of programmes, and
monitoring institutional quality assurance practices and processes.
Issues pertaining to the QA system include:
• National regulatory frameworks and systems for establishing, registering,

and accrediting higher education (HE) providers and programmes fall short of
providing clear criteria for minimum requirements.
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• The QA system lacks guidance on distinguishing criteria for various types of HE
institutions, common minimum standards for admission to HE programmes, and
minimum standards for academic staff.
• The use of these criteria has proven challenging when passing QA judgments,
exposing the regulatory bodies to criticism for lack of consistency and
transparency.
• The diverse HE landscapes in Namibia demands systemic instruments to
coordinate and supervise the HE system.
To address these challenges, the National Council for Higher Education (NCHE) was mandated
to develop minimum standards for higher education in Namibia to produce knowledgeable
skilled and competent citizens, and to provide a framework to assure transparency and equity.
9.5 Accelerated Infrastructure Development Plan
• Moderator: Mr. Ned Sibeya (National Planning Commission)

Presenter: Mr. Alex Sikume (Deputy Director, Corporate Planning,
MoEAC)
The MoEAC developed an Accelerated Infrastructure Development Plan (AIDeP) to ensure

coherent and well-coordinated investment in school infrastructure.
The objectives of the plan include:
• to assess, identify and cost short-term gaps in ministerial infrastructure for

immediate investments;
• provide a well sequenced and prioritized approach to addressing the identified
infrastructure gaps; and
• provide a strategic framework for resource mobilization for infrastructure
investments, particularly from the National Budget and development partners.
The challenge of inadequate infrastructure has resulted in some learners being taught in
makeshift structures made of corrugated iron sheets and traditional materials, and some
which are in deplorable condition, requiring major renovation. Major infrastructure gaps are
particularly found in pre-primary and in secondary schools, with a national shortfall of 4,479
classrooms. Adhering to COVID-19 health protocols has contributed to an increase in school
infrastructure gaps.
Enhanced health and sanitation facilities are recommended to ensure a safe learning
environment for all learners. In addition, the average classroom: learner ratio needs to
be significantly reduced across levels and regions, given that the current prevalence of
overcrowding can be a potential breeding ground for COVID-19 infections.
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9.6 Plenary: Integrated Physical Education and School Sports
(IPESS)
•

Presenters: Mr. Roger Kambatuka (Chief Sport Officer, MSYNS) and Ms.
Ayesha Wentworth (Director, PQA, MoEAC)
The School Sports for Development Programme was piloted in Hardap region in 2015/2016,
as a proof of concept to deliver physical education, intra and inter- school sport, and to create
a solid foundation for using sport as a tool for adolescent development. The programme
demonstrated an increase in school attendance, decrease in violence and ill-discipline, and
improved academic performance. The MoEAC and the Ministry of Youth, Sport and National
Service (MSYNS).
MSYNS signed Terms of Reference (TOR) in 2017 to jointly implement an integrated physical
education and schools’ sports programme that contributes towards holistic development.
To further strengthen the implementation of physical education and school sports, the two
Ministries developed an Integrated Physical Education and School Sports (IPESS) Policy
with the vision to improve quality education, health, well-being, physical activity and sport
excellence. One of the policy objectives is to remove barriers in physical education and
school sports through the development, and implementation of, ‘inclusion’ programmes, and
to develop human capacity for effective coordination, management and implementation.
9.7 Research Paper 2: Violence Against Children
• Study: Ms. H. Andjamba (Director, Child Welfare, MGEPESW)
A national survey to measure physical, emotional and sexual violence against children and
youth, and to understand the effect of this violence was conducted by the Ministry of Gender
Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare (MGPESW) during 2019. The survey findings
will help Namibia to build stronger child protection systems.
A key finding was that 40% of females and 45% of males experience physical, sexual, or
emotional violence in childhood, and those affected mostly experience multiple types of
violence.
One in 3 girls, and 2 in 5 boys experience physical violence during childhood, and the
perpetrator is often the parent, caregiver or relative. For those that experience physical
violence, it tends to start early in life.
Ten percent of females, and 1 in 13 males report having experienced sexual violence. In 20% of
cases there is more than one perpetrator present when the sexual violence occurs. For those
affected by sexual violence, 71.3% of girls and 77.6% of boys experience multiple incidents
before they are 18 years of age. Perpetrators of sexual violence are often someone known
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to the child or adolescent. For female children and youth, 29% are abused by their intimate
partner, 26% by a family member and 24% by a ‘friend’. Males are more likely to be abused by
an intimate partner (33%), a neighbour (30%), or a family member (17%).
Most often violence takes place in familiar places, particularly the home and school. Girls are
mainly abused during the day, and boys in the evening. Abuse, once it starts, tends to be
inflicted multiple times.
The main perpetrators of psychological and emotional violence are intimate partners.
The report of the survey was shared with and approved by Cabinet, which directed that:
• A response plan on Violence Against Children (VAC) be developed to address

findings from the study.
• Key VAC indicators should be identified in each sector (health, education, social
welfare, police and prosecutors), and regular data collected, which at a minimum
includes age, sex, types of VAC experienced, and VAC services offered.
• The MGEPESW, in collaboration with relevant stakeholders, is to intensify
advocacy and prevention campaigns on the causes of Gender Based Violence
(GBV) and other forms of violence.
77.6% of boys experience multiple

incidents of sexual
violence before they
71.3% of girls are 18 years of age.
45% of males, and

40% of females experience physical, sexual, or emotional violence in childhood,
and those affected mostly experience multiple types of violence.
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CHAPTER 10 Reflections on TES tracks
The 2nd TES track, Learning and skills for life, work and sustainable development speaks to
the need to ensure that foundational learning – particularly strong literacy programmes – is in
place, and that all citizens have access to lifelong learning which is meaningful, and prepares
them for enjoying a meaningful and fulfilling life, and for sustainable work in a changing world.
Moderated by Ms. Doreen Lyomba (National Secretary: Legal Affairs, NANSO).
10.1 Plenary Panel 1 discussion: Youth voices on school sports and

education for sustainable development: Where are we now and
what can we transform?
• Moderator, National Youth Council.

Panelists: AFRIYAN; SODA; NANSO; Organization of Youth with
Disabilities (NOYD)
Initial statements made it clear that any sports and education policy needs to respond to the
demand of youth and should be inclusive of minority groups. It should also set a framework for
sports in the country, ensuring that students are involved. Popular opinion is that sports policy
should avoid ‘westernisation.’
Moving on to sustainable development, participants argued that any development should

meet society’s needs while improving the future of the youth. Panel members affirmed the
improvement of sexuality education, which allows young people to make informed decisions.
Informal education is however still necessary to cater for out-of-school youth, and those that
have dropped out of school.
Sports touches on five areas: emotional, social, physical and mental. Sport builds self-esteem
and gives responsibility and respect to those that are involved. It also allows participants to
develop a range of skills, promotes brain functioning, critical thinking, decision-making skills,
self-discipline and good behaviour, and may “stifle drug abuse and teenage pregnancy.”
On the question: ‘How can school sport promote inclusion of learners and youth with disability
and where are we now?’ the panel responded that sport is the only subject that includes the
whole wellbeing of learners, and so helps to ensure education is non-discriminatory. Sports
activities improve the physical and mental wellbeing of all learners, as they learn through
playing and Physical Education (PE) enhances memories of these learners, thus, “we should
ensure that all learners are afforded an opportunity to take part.”
Concerns were raised that while PE lessons and school sports happen, limited sports codes
are represented, with many schools not offering athletics and inter-house competitions. In
addition, access to sports is too often restricted to those who are talented, but PE should be
for all, to form relationships with other learners, and to tap on the skills of others.
Many talented school leavers cannot continue with sports as a career, as the career pathway
and support does not exist. All agreed this needs to be rectified.
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Qualified PE teachers are needed, and school PE needs to be well coordinated and well
developed, to develop life skills. More coaches should be trained, and more sports clubs
should cater for persons with disabilities, and raise awareness on the capability of learners,
e.g., ‘blind soccer.’
One participant argued that the Namibia National Students Organisation (NANSO) is not
inclusive if it does not benefit all youths.
The key take away was that all relevant Ministries should be involved in establishing sports
facilities and access. There should be national training programmes for all youths to participate
in sports. “We really need to transform.”
Key recommendations of the panel were:
• PE should be strengthened in schools.

• Sport should be made compulsory in all schools to provide an opportunity for
every learner.
• More sports clubs for youth with disabilities need to be established, along with
raising awareness on the ability of people with disabilities.
• Train coaches specialising in training youth with disabilities.
• Improve sports infrastructure and qualified PE teachers in schools. This will in the
medium term involve creating additional positions.
In the long term the panel argued for:
• Making every subject a promotional subject.

• Those entrusted with sports management should consider innovation of
traditional sport codes, and encourage the inclusion in school sports of ‘amagoes,
butura, owela etc.’
• Improve sports infrastructure in schools and in communities across the country.
• Train and recruit more qualified PE teachers in schools.
• There should be a policy supporting youth who want to pursue a career in sport.
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10.2 Plenary Panel 2 discussion: Promoting arts and culture through
education, enhancing pre-vocational education and linkages to the
world, and future of work.
•

Moderator: M’kariko Amagulu (Director, Arts, MoEAC)
Panelists: Prof. Herman Beyer (UNAM), Ms. Marianina Deventer (SEO for
Arts Subjects, NIED), Ms. Selma Mokaxwa, (Haudano SS), Mr. Patrick
Sam (Chairperson, National Arts Council of Namibia) and Mr. Boysen
Ngondo (Culture, MoEAC)
The session called for creative arts, sport and cultural activities to be given more prominence
in schools, and in communities. This was linked to a perception that Namibians are in danger
of losing their sense of identity and roots. The importance of indigenous knowledge was
emphasised, particularly in relation to learners gaining an understanding of who they are, and
how to adopt sustainable livelihoods which would also allow them to adapt to climate change.
High youth unemployment has been worsened by the impact of COVID-19, which has
particularly disrupted the learning and life chances of many youths and low-skilled adults. In
addition, this has further undermined the transition from education to work.
To enhance employability and enable an ecologically sustainable transition, youth and adults
need strong foundational learning, continuous reskilling and upskilling for rapidly changing
economies affected by digitisation and the shift to a low carbon economy. This will require
education for sustainable development, including environmental and climate change
education, and other drivers of change in societies.
An important element is the use of indigenous knowledge systems and drawing on local
cultures to equip the youth to be better prepared for a sustainable future. This involves
engaging with communities and traditional leadership, as well as creative teaching of artistic
expression and culture, focusing on skills for employment, and building on existing initiatives,
partnerships and coalitions where possible.
The potential for employment and national self-respect that mainstreaming arts, sport and
culture could generate is not adequately promoted through school and government. This was
an issue which was repeated often, with calls for Namibia to mainstream traditional indigenous
skills, knowledge and values, particularly in the context of solving the challenges created by
climate change and the need for sustainable development. This was joined by a call to create
career paths for learners who exhibited excellence in sports and the arts.
This will require education for sustainable

development, including environmental and
climate change education, and other drivers of
change in societies.
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10.3 Plenary: Career paths and articulation of qualifications from
basic education (including AS) to higher education within Namibia
Qualifications Framework
• Mr. Franz Gertze (CEO, NQA) and Mr. Amon Haufiku (NTA)
A number of challenges in the TVET sector were identified including lack of articulation.
One should be able to move horizontally, vertically or even diagonally, including from the
mainstream education system through a career pathway, to TVET. But there is an absence of
a uniform curriculum for vocational education centres in Namibia, with some putting in place
their own entry level requirements and curriculum with no reference to the MoEAC.
TVET courses often do not articulate with formal schooling qualifications and experience.
This makes it difficult, or impossible for learners to transition between different institutions. In
addition, NANSO observed that there are several bogus TVET institutions taking money from
youth and providing unaccredited qualifications and redundant courses. The organisation
demanded action to end this situation.
There is a need for a standardised curriculum, and pathways across institutions to allow
learners to transition between different institutions.
There was discussion on the purpose and functioning of the National Qualification Framework
(NQF). The presenters explained how different qualifications fit into the NQF.
However, there are multiple problems, including:
• No harmonised Policy framework.

• Articulation challenges at most levels: Policy, institutions, qualifications,
standards.
• Duplication of roles, functions and resources.
• Lack of adequate resourcing.
• Lack of standards.
• No clear learning pathways.
It was explained that learners benefit from the NQF, as they can move with a qualification from
one institution to another. Workers also benefit as the NQF supports lifelong learning. Thirdly,
Namibia benefits, as it can transform its education and create prosperity. The framework
allows one to move vertically or horizontally within courses.
The Namibia Training Authority (NTA) and NQA are proposing a TVET sub-framework and
pathways inclusive of formal, non-formal and informal education. Consultations are taking
place with various stakeholders including industries, prior to formalising the various career
paths and articulation of qualifications. It was also proposed that learners at the end of Grade
9 should get a certificate at NQF level 2 (Certificate in Basic Pre-vocational Skills), which
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they can use to access the TVET pathway. There was also a call for merging TVET into the
mainstream, allowing those that have gone the academic route, to join TVET.
Finally, there was a demand from NANSO that ICT needs to be taken seriously and must
become a compulsory subject on the school curriculum, supported by proper infrastructure.
This is needed to catch up with other countries, and to be prepared for the 4th Industrial
Revolution (4IR). NANSO pointed out that there is only one ICT period per cycle and called on
the Ministry to increase time allocated.
The audience was very vocal in this session and insisted that while the NQA is important as
it empowers people with recognition of their qualifications there is a lot that still needs to be
done in setting standards for qualifications, creating pathways and real articulation, evaluating
and recognising competencies.
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CHAPTER 11 Financing education
The 5th TES track, Financing education, is rooted in the assertion that SDG4 will only be
attained if adequate resources are mobilised, tracked and used efficiently and equitably in the
education sector. Part of the solution to mobilizing more funding for education lies in finding
and implementing innovative forms of raising new finance. The steady increase in spending
on education was reversed during COVID-19 and is yet to pick up due to other humanitarian
crises.
This final input session was dedicated to free education and enhancing private sector
contributions for Namibia to transform the education system. First introduced by Ms. Bohn
and Ms. Shiningayamwe in Days 1 and 2 respectively, this theme continued.
Chaired by Ms. Sanet L. Steenkamp (Executive Director, MoEAC).
11.1 Plenary Session: ‘Fee Free Education’: How do we return agency

to communities? Reflections from the region
• Dr. Abhiyan Jung Rana (Regional Adviser for Education, UNICEF ESARO)
The purpose of free education is to comply with the constitutional commitments, and to remove
financial barriers preventing access to education and learning. Many countries have declared
education, especially basic education, compulsory and free. The concept of ‘free education’
varies, depending on each country’s context, and can be targeted to certain population groups
such as girls, vulnerable children, children with disabilities, poorest quintiles, etc., especially
when this population cannot afford to access school and learning because of school fees. It
can also be used to target a specific level of education such as pre-primary, primary and/or
lower secondary, which have been declared compulsory and free of charge in many education
systems. In some countries free education can be extended to all type of schools but is often
limited to public and state schools. The concept of ‘free education’ needs to be redefined and
‘free’ should become a cost-sharing model.
Free education refers to partial or total abolition of fees paid to educational institutions and
are required for school attendance and learning – especially enrolment and admission fees,
tuition fees and exam fees. Free education is not the abolition of ALL the fees paid by parents,
especially those paid outside the educational institutions, and those not required for school
attendance.
Many countries around the world have already expanded basic education to include lower
secondary, including 94 out of the 107 low- and middle-income countries. Among the 53
Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries with available data, 42 (79%) legally guaranteed free
education at the primary level in 2016. Many countries in SSA have also expanded free upper
secondary education, for example, free Senior High School in Ghana in 2017, and Universal
Secondary Education in Zambia in late 2021. However, despite the elimination of school fees,
much of the actual cost of education is still being covered by African households, rather than
the government. Globally, the poorer a country, the larger the education cost burden on
households.
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The presentation further highlighted the following in terms of the free education situation
in Africa:
• Capitation grants to schools, to offset the funds previously provided by school

fees, were often insufficient, poorly delivered and inadequately targeted.
• The grants were usually lower than what schools in most SSA countries had
collected from parents, forcing them to manage more students with fewer
resources.
• In most countries, grants were not indexed to inflation, and lost significant value
in real terms over time.
• Research from Lesotho indicates that the per capita allocation per pupil did not
account for schools’ differing needs.
• Payment delays, implementation lags, and corruption in capitation grant
programmes also caused problems.
Evidence from data and literature reviews on the impacts of free education on enrollment,
quality and equity were highlighted and include the following:
• Significant increase of children and girl-child enrolling, for example Uganda

saw a 156% increase in girls’ enrollment in the first 8 years of universal primary
education (UPE).
• Increased Governments’ input and involvement in education since the universal
education policies e.g., Kenya’s funding of education has been increasing
steadily from 13.5% of the national budget in 2011, to 27% in 2014.
However, free education has some negative impacts.
These include:
• Schools insufficiently funded by government school grants and amounts not

adjusted according to their need.
• Deterioration of teachers’ motivation and working conditions. Because of acute
teacher shortages, teachers were forced without increased salaries to combine
classes for several grades, and introduce double shifts to cater for the increased
enrolments.
• Declining performance in public schools resulted from the pressure of enrolment
and automatic promotion policies.
• Disengagement of parents. Because of free education, some communities came
to believe that the governments would take full responsibility for education. They
became apathetic to all school activities, making effective school management
difficult.
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The key challenges to implement free education include the potential pressure on education
budget allocation, on account of:
• Capitation grant – to replace school revenues previously earned from school

fees.
• Availability of teachers – to maintain optimal teacher: learner ratios – given
increased enrolment.
• Additional infrastructure requirements – classrooms, libraries, labs to cater for
increased enrolment.
• Increased budget requirements – to address enrollment surges and reaching
out to marginalised children and to bring the whole system up to minimum
standards.
• Downstream costs – larger numbers of children making the transition to lower-
secondary schools.
• Education spending growth has been growing as a percentage of GDP,
particularly for USE.
• Weak relationship between the allocation per learner and the poverty rate.
Communities play an important role in promoting effective schools in terms of both learning
outcomes and effective resource management. Free education needs to be implemented in a
way that retains or promotes community involvement, in establishing, supporting, or overseeing
school activities, so the school is seen as “our school” rather than “the government’s school.”
Therefore, free education needs to be implemented in a way that emphasises the very
important role communities and parents need to play in ensuring that their school benefits from
this reform. It should be clear that free education does not mean that parents and community
members cannot make voluntary contributions to the school.
Such contributions could be in the form of in-kind contributions (such as donated labour for
school renovation or maintenance) or supporting the school feeding programme. Voluntary
contributions not only reinforce the community’s sense of ownership, but also provide extra
revenue to the schools.
It is also important that governments increase parental awareness of other kinds of community
involvement in school affairs (for example, assisting teachers, encouraging homework, and
attending or sponsoring special events). Such efforts can significantly enhance school
effectiveness and learning outcomes.
Participants suggested mobilising new funds through private contributions via Corporate
Social Investment (CSI). The need for legislation to create a CSI fund was discussed, along
with a suggestion that there is a need for a forum where the MoEAC can advise and direct CSI
and donor funding to support its national priorities. The audience also discussed innovative
ways of funding education such as the issuing of social and development impact bonds and
allocating fishing quotas and mineral rights to education.
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CHAPTER 12 Financing education
The final session of the Conference was chaired by Ms. Edda Bohn (Deputy Executive
Director, Formal Education, MoEAC).
12.1 Plenary Session: Draft Conference recommendations and how

these will transform the education system and respond to SDGs and
inform the 2023/24 to 2029/30 Strategic Plans
• Ms. Sanet L. Steenkamp (Executive Director, MoEAC)
The conference recommended the following key education transforming pillars which were
organized around the five TES Action Tracks, corresponding to the Conference programme.
Action Track 1: Inclusive, equitable, safe and healthy schools

Conference Recommendations
1. Rethink the meaning of access and focus on ensuring access and completion of basic
education by both boys and girls.
2. Ensure that existing policies on inclusive, safe schools are implemented fully.
3. Advocate for the National Population and Housing Census to collect data to inform better
planning and budgeting.
4. Strengthen early numeracy and literacy skills which are important for lifelong learning, and
contribute to reducing dropout, early marriage, and learner pregnancy.
5. Involve parents and communities to address high levels of learner pregnancy.
6. Roll out the Home-Grown School Nutrition Programme (HSNP) encouraging community
women to grow vegetables and cook and serve the meals as income generating projects.
7. Improve pre-service programmes and continuous professional development (CPD) for
teachers.
8. Provide improved CPD to teachers to better identify and support learners with disabilities
and learning challenges.
9. Provide diverse assistive technology and devices, and accessible teaching and learning
materials for learners with various kinds of disabilities.
10. Establish a comprehensive referral and support system in all communities, which should
be complemented by enhancing the status of life skills and life skills teachers.
11. Ensure Life Skills is better staffed with fully trained teachers and is better resourced.
12. Co-ordinate with other Ministries and agencies to better support learners with disabilities
and learning challenges.
13. Support refugee, migrant and undocumented children to obtain documents needed to
register in schools.
14. Assist schools to improve their management capacity so that they become safer, welcoming
environments where resources are used optimally.
15. Improve the use of school resources so they deliver maximum benefit. This will mobilise
more funds for schools to use on upgrading and maintenance, making them safer and
more inclusive.
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Action Track 2: Learning and skills for life, work and sustainable development
1. Transfer the ECD programme to the MoEAC with adequate financial resources, so that
proportionately more budget is allocated to ECD and the early grades.
2. Regulate the ECD Sector to improve quality, and support capacity development of
educators.
3. Ensure all ECD centres have a safe learning environment and access to electricity, and
the internet.
4. Invest more of the national education budget in early grade learners and reduce the
number of subjects that they must take, so that teachers can focus on the key skills of
literacy and numeracy, building foundational skills in all learners.
5. Strengthen foundational learning through implementing Jolly Phonics and Teaching at the
Right Level, in junior primary phases.
6. Include a chapter on arts and culture in NDP6 to build the home market, promote business
skills and cultural diplomacy, and include the concept of cultural economy.
7. Establish a strong quantitative evidence-base for policy makers in implementing the
policies on arts, heritage, culture and sports.
8. Reinforce the internal markets for cultural practitioners and creative people, cultural goods
and services.
9. Promote links between creators and technology, by clustering the various competencies
in creative/social platforms.
10. Integrate the cultural dimension in cooperation and trade agreements, with the view to
expand markets and capitalize on foreign direct investments (FDIs).
11. Promote creativity business education, from school through to professional levels.
12. Improve access to sports and arts opportunities for all and create career pathways for
learners who excel in sports and the arts.
13. Review the role of pre-vocational subjects in schools, and map and implement improved
teaching practices.
14. Provide adequate teaching materials for pre-vocational programmes in schools and
ensure there are enough trained teachers for the subjects.
15. Add ICT in education as a key competency in teacher education programmes.
16. Through stronger liaison and planning with the institutions of higher learning which train
teachers (see recommendation under Track 3), ensure that these institutions train teachers
to teach the pre-vocational subjects competently.
17. More secondary schools need to be able to present a technical stream so that learners
have a real choice. This needs to be supported by improved career guidance for learners.
Action Track 3: Teachers, teaching and teacher education

1. Expedite the establishment of the Teacher Regulatory Body to regulate the profession,
monitor and improve professionalism and make careers in teaching more attractive.
2. The MoEAC to establish a liaison committee with MHETI and teacher training institutions
to ensure that they provide the teachers the system requires, to align teacher demand and
supply, and improve quality of teacher training output.
3. Restructure and reform teacher training based on international good practice.
4. Review the process of deploying teachers so they are deployed to where they are needed
and can add most value.
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5. Conduct a payroll and human resource audit to identify gaps and oversupply of teachers
in schools and ‘ghost’ teachers. Act to rectify problems.
6. Create a careers pathway and programme which encourages high performing matriculants
to choose teaching as a career.
7. Employ experienced and novice teachers as teacher assistants (TAs) to support schools
in dire need of teachers, and use paraprofessionals to support early grade teachers,
particularly in remote schools.
8. Design and implement a national standard induction programme for newly qualified
teachers in their first year of teaching, which should be linked to registration as a teacher.
9. Set clear numerical standards and benchmarks with cut-scores for expected performance
in literacy and numeracy at the end of Grades 1 to 3 as the basis for a national early
grade literacy and numeracy initiative and to inform improved performance by early grade
teachers.
10. Extend performance agreements to school principals and staff.
11. Restructure the CPD programme for teachers to strengthen school-based support, using
coaching and mentoring as part of a framework for teacher support and development.
12. Strengthen the CPD programme to build the capacities of all teachers on the use of ICT
in education.
13. Review the career pathing and skills of Life Skills teachers to improve their professional
situation.
14. Put in place mechanisms to reward exceptional teachers.
15. Provide adequate housing for teachers in remote and poor rural communities to enhance
their motivation to perform at their optimum level.
Action Track 4: Digital learning and transformation

1. Provide budget for schools to purchase ICTs with national procurement to maximize
economies of scale, and avoid schools being tricked into buying inappropriate and
outdated technology.
2. Develop a national coordinated plan for the provision of electricity, ICT equipment, services
and support to all schools with training at every level.
3. Prioritise working with the private sector to design and launch Public Private Partnerships
(PPPs) at national level. These will particularly be focused on provision of ICTs to rural
areas for equitable ICT roll out and increase access to computers and assistive devices.
4. Extend access to broadband to all schools and explore financial support from tech
companies.
5. Review the ICT Policy for schools and allow learners to use their own devices in class.
6. Adjust post provisioning norms (PPNs) to increase information communication teachers
and ICT technical support in schools.
7. The MoEAC should be part of broader government negotiations for cost effective and
bulk purchases of devices and internet. This is key to all schools being able to offer a 21st
century education.
8. Make sure all teacher training courses include ICT in education as a core subject and
make computer literacy a precondition for graduation.
9. A broader range of training organisations should be brought in to provide teachers and
education officers with CPD on using ICT devices and teaching ICT-based subjects.
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Provision of good quality in-service training of teachers and education officers in ICT
integration is critical to making optimal use of the services, devices and equipment
provided in schools.
10. Strengthen the monitoring and evaluation of the ICT equipment, devices and services
schools are accessing to get evidence of what works for replication and scaling, and for
warning schools against purchasing substandard or non-usable equipment.
11. Involve all regional education offices in monitoring the use and condition of equipment in
schools to enable them to respond quickly to school needs, so that equipment does not
sit idle while waiting for repairs or replacement.
Action Track 5: Financing of education

1. Conduct a study and assess the impact of the ‘real’ cost of UPE and USE.
2. Improve pro-poor resourcing of schools in poor and vulnerable communities.
3. Plan and implement a national advocacy campaign to engage parents and communities to
explain ‘free education,’ and encourage cost-sharing and its potential advantages.
4. Establish a national forum chaired by MoEAC to align donor and CSI funding to Ministry
priorities laid out in a national education investment plan, to optimize impact.
5. Develop a Corporate Social Investment (CSI) Act to encourage education as a priority for
social investment with specific incentives.
6. Explore and experiment with innovative financial mechanisms including social and
development impact bonds to raise new sources of funding.
7. Review the Ministerial organisational development plan, personnel structures, and budget
allocations to align it with the needs of the Ministry at national, regional, and school level
to optimise efficiency.
8. All schools to publicly post their UPE/USE grant income and expenditure, including
donations received to ensure transparency and accountability.
9. Review and revise procurement processes to benefit from economies of scale and
advantages of local community engagement.
10. Align the academic year with the national financial year.
11. Sign agreements with the providers of services (water, electricity, internet etc.) to keep
down costs.
12. Speed up appointment of replacement school staff to avoid schools wasting scarce
resources on temporary teachers.
13. Commission research on the use of funds across the education system to identify good
practice leading to efficiencies.
14. Finalize and operationalize the equitable School Grants Policy.
15. Conduct research to ascertain what new infrastructure developments are required.
Through a combination of the above measures Namibia needs to reach a point where the
approximately 2,000 schools nationally are adequately funded – including the most rural
and remote, where wastage is kept to a minimum, and where communities are aware of the
financial status of their school, and can step in to assist if necessary.
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CHAPTER 13 Four key transforming
education initiatives: Recommendations
The Conference recommended the implementation of four of the key education transforming
initiatives, described on Day 2, to reverse the education crisis in Namibia. Collectively
they address the financing of education, the delivery system of the Ministry to schools, the
preparation and professional development of the deliverers of education, and the foundations
of all school-based learning.
The four transformative initiatives which Namibia has committed to address through the
MoEAC are:
Innovative Improving Office Transformation National Early

Financing and Efficiencies in of Teacher Grade Literacy
Domestic Resource the Ministry of Education and Numeracy
Mobilisation Education, Arts Initiative
and Culture
13.1 Innovative Financing and Domestic Resource Mobilization
Namibia’s investment of over 9% of GDP in education is high by middle- and low-income

country standards. Of this, 84% is spent on salaries, leaving little for learning materials and
infrastructure. Despite this impressive investment, outcomes are low because of an inefficient
education system, with the wastage caused by high levels of repetition and dropout in the early
grades (12.5% of learners repeating a grade in 2019), costing an estimated N$1.58 billion or 11%
of the total Ministry’s budget. Further, the education system is typified by inequalities in learner
performance along lines of geography, income and disability. The wastage is compounded by
excessive per capita spending on high education where the social rate of return is low, and
extremely limited spending on pre-primary (about 3% of total), and early grade learners where
the social rate of return is high.
The low investment in pre-primary and early grade education means that many learners have
weak learning foundations, which will likely lead to poor performance later, and limited life
chances. With present spending patterns and level of investment there is a lack of funds
to plan and achieve education transformation in the country. This programme would involve
researching innovative funding mechanisms, including such innovations as allocating income
from fishing and mineral licenses to education, and providing tax benefits for donations, as
well as results-based financing where implementation service providers are paid for agreed
outcomes, rather than for activities and outputs. Monitoring and evaluation, and government
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capacity for outcomes-based procurement are integral parts of results-based financing
financial instruments.
Along with the exploration of innovative funding models the intervention would also involve
reform of the ‘free education’ mantra to allow for a cost-sharing model and would solicit more
funding from Treasury. CSI and donor funding would be orchestrated through a National
Corporate Social Investment Act and a national forum, allowing the Ministry to set priorities
for funding.
Introduce a National Corporate Social Investment Act and a cost sharing model to strengthen
private and community inputs into education. Institute a donor forum where the MoEAC can
align donor interest with its priorities. Improve school procurement processes.
13.2 Improved Office Efficiencies in the Ministry of Education,

Arts and Culture
Many issues regarding the dysfunctionality of the head office and regional education offices,
and failure to work optimally were raised at the regional and national consultations, including:
• A lack of a clear vision at head office, and a defining strategic direction for the Ministry
that all staff know and live.
• A silo effect – with units not communicating and co-planning adequately.
These challenges can lead to being over-responsive to donors, becoming reactive to media
headlines, and not being proactive. The result is crisis management, and a lack of respect for
plans and planning. This tends to lead to overloading managers who are trusted to deliver,
even if the extra work is not directly related to their function. This is further compounded by
key posts being left vacant, and a lack of adequate transport with consequent impacts on
coordination and delivery.
Head office generates a lot of policy which is often not fully implemented at school level and
as a result there is too much systemic focus on access, and not enough on quality. In addition,
the national standards and performance indicators need updating – the last NASP visit to
schools was some years ago.
The above planning and policy challenges are further complicated by a procurement process
which is cumbersome, causing delays in service delivery and inadequate amounts allocated
to learners through the government grant, resulting in schools having little resources versus
needs. The current model of equitable distribution of education funding per child is not
working and needs to be reviewed. This is further weakened by the lack of alignment between
financial years, which creates frustrations around planning and spending.
The problems at head office are compounded by a range of challenges at regional office
level. These include weak or poorly managed regions with many vacant posts, and dual
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and duplicated lines of communication and accountability slowing coordinated action and
innovation, along with too little time spent by regional officers in schools while crisis managing,
weakening respect for planning. As a result, planning at all levels becomes a compliance
issue, and schools work in spite of the regional office. This works for some schools but leaves
weak schools exposed and exaggerates weaknesses. The result is low quality delivery, high
levels of frustration and a lot of wasted time.
Inefficiencies and dissonance in the structuring and operations at MoEAC head office and
in the regions are a major contributing factor to the crisis in the national education system,
inefficiencies and wastage within the system, and in the failure of the regional offices to
adequately support schools. Efficient education offices which are structured around their
function, with alignment of financial and human resources to the objectives and priorities of
the Ministry, would deliver a qualitatively better service to schools, their learners, and teachers.
It is proposed that an organisational development (OD) process be implemented. It is envisaged
that this would most likely take the better part of two years to complete and would require
political and senior management support. It would involve aligning the available financial and
human resources to the objectives and priorities of the organisation.
To agree a vision for a transformed national education system which best meets the needs
of the learners and their parents, the schools and the regional education offices, is a starting
point. This requires analysis of the outcomes of the regional and national stakeholder
engagements (which are presented in this report), possibly reinforced with focused research,
where further clarity is required. Through a series of OD workshops involving management,
and some involving all staff, the Head Office processes would be streamlined to meet those
needs. Aligning the function to the need, by identifying the capabilities that are required in
Head Office and Regional Education Offices to support the vision, and identifying the key
processes within the Ministry, after analysing existing weaknesses and strengths, will improve
functions and help reduce crisis management. By process mapping the key functions, the
offices can align finances and responsibilities with function. Constant review of processes will
help build capacity within the Ministry and regional offices to achieve the necessary actions
and outcomes.
Head Office and Regional Education Office transformation programme to make the offices
serve the local education sites effectively, through undertaking an OD process leading to
restructuring and re-imagining their role in relation to schools/ECD sites.
13.3 Transformation of Teacher Education
Teachers are key to the delivery of the curriculum and to the success of learners. The Southern
and Eastern Africa Consortium for Monitoring Educational Quality (SACMEQ) analysis shows
that teachers in Namibia need a better grasp of their subject matter, particularly those teaching
mathematics.
Observation of teachers in Namibia indicates that many teachers need stronger classroom
teaching and management skills to improve the use of resources; improved skills of assessing
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learning formative and summative learning; teaching with more varied approaches such
as group/pair work; and to pace their lessons better and make lessons more interesting to
learners.
SDG4 speaks to quality education leading to effective learning outcomes, but quality education
and effective learning outcomes are not possible without quality teaching. SDG 4 also calls for
a substantial increase in qualified teachers through improved training, recruitment, retention,
status, working conditions and motivation. In line with this, UNESCO has made the supply of
well-trained, supported and qualified teachers one of its top priorities, and it points out that
there is a growing shortfall in trained teachers across the world, which will deepen the existing
education crisis.
The MoEAC has acknowledged that effective initial and continuous teacher education and
development are key to the effective delivery of the curriculum, and to the performance and
success of learners. This report has already detailed the disconnect between teacher training
and the needs of schools, and the realities of the classroom. This creates the bizarre situation
of shortages of teachers for new subjects, Namibian languages and for certain secondary
phases, while there is a glut of trained unemployed primary school teachers with problematic
subject combinations, limited classroom management skills, and generally poor ICT skills. Even
if newly qualified teachers (NQTs) secure posts, they have had too little classroom experience
during teaching practice, making them insecure, as well as being unable to use communication
technology and assistive devices in the classroom. Schools are not expected to induct NQTs
which compounds the problem. International research has shown that this combination of
conditions leads to high levels of NQT disillusionment and frustration, combined with early
exit from the profession.
Conference Recommendation
A reform of the teacher training process so that the training of teachers and CPD is made
more practice-oriented, and institutions training teachers align their supply of teachers by
phase and subject to the projected needs of the system. This needs to be underpinned by
the rapid establishment of the Teacher Regulatory Authority.
13.4 The Early Grade Literacy and Numeracy Initiative
The NCE delegates constantly reiterated that early grade literacy and numeracy skills are
the key to success of a learner in the schooling system – and that failure to reach minimum
standards in reading and numeracy by the end of Grade 3 leaves learners failing in subsequent
grades and increases their chances of repeating grades and dropping out. Recent research
on how the brain develops has shown that children’s capacity to learn to read is greatest in the
early grades, and that if they fail to learn to read in pre-primary and Grade 1, it becomes harder
and harder to learn. This is known as the Matthew Effect in Reading.
The proposed NEGLANA initiative would build on the foundations laid by existing interventions
such as Jolly Phonics and Teaching at the Right Level and would use the Ministry’s existing
knowledge in the use of Early Grade Reading and Mathematics Assessment (EGRA and EGMA).
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In addition, the Ministry would need to set national benchmarks and cut-scores for reading
and numeracy at each grade level. These are the expected levels of performance in each
grade which predict reading fluency and mathematical proficiency, allowing the learner to
do the more complex work of Grade 4. The levels should be specific to each language, using
Namibian leader teachers to draw the cut-score boundaries, using experience of their learners
in that language or in numeracy. Through a pseudo-scientific process called the Modified
Angoff Process, cut-scores and benchmarks are then set for each language and numeracy at
the end of each grade.
Where the programme would add value over existing interventions is that it would involve
the training of every Grade 1, 2 and 3 class teacher in administering both EGRA and EGMA
assessment instruments, and it would introduce a planning and diagnostic process around the
assessments. This process, which the teachers, their Heads of Department (HoD) and school
principals would be introduced at the training, and would involve a pre-assessment and a post
assessment meeting. In the pre-assessment meeting held the day before the assessments,
the teachers and their HoD meet as a Community of Practice (CoP) chaired by their principal.
In this meeting each teacher will estimate the performance of their learners and their class in
the assessments and review their preparation for the following day.
The post-assessment meeting is another CoP chaired by the principal, and it follows the
completion of the marking of the assessments and the uploading of the results onto a school
database. In this CoP the teachers will present the performance of their learners and compare
it to their predictions in the pre-assessment meeting and try and explain discrepancies. They
will also explain what remedial measures they will now take to deal with any non-scorers
(those learners who could not read a word and/or could not do any of the numeracy sums)
in their classroom and beyond. These should be built into the school’s development plan.
The results of the assessments should be shared with the local community in a meeting
soon after the testing process is held. In this meeting the results should be presented using
graphic templates provided by the Ministry, and the results interpreted for the community. The
community should be invited to suggest how it can assist, with parents being encouraged to
listen to their children reading and to monitor their children’s homework.
Teachers should also be encouraged to establish reading and numeracy school camps during
the school holidays for the non-scorers. In these camps, non-scorers should be provided with
intensive support using methods which complement those used in class.
The EGRA and EGMA data from each school should be loaded on an electronic or physical
template and passed to the cluster, and from the cluster to the regional education office. At
each level it should be consolidated and interpreted. The regional education office should
present the regional EGRA and EGMA results at a meeting with the key education and political
stakeholders and plan how the region should respond and improve performance.
Finally, at national level the results from all the regions should be presented to key national
stakeholders as the basis for considering how the results impact on national priorities and
programmes. The data will allow the Minister and senior education officials to monitor the
trajectory of improvement across the country, and drill down to specific schools and even
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classes. The national database will also provide data to inform Namibia’s data for its Human
Capital Index (HCI) and other international requirements.
If introduced across the schooling system, NEGLANA could lead to less wastage and greater
system efficiencies as more learners learn to read fluently and perform basic mathematical
functions in the early grades. It also has the potential to improve the national economy as
more learners graduate from school and have the skills and knowledge to take up technical
positions which, at the moment, are often filled by foreigners or are unfilled.
Conference Recommendation
A national early grade literacy and numeracy political and community drive to strengthen
the foundational skills for lifelong learning and in addressing challenges related to repetition
rates, so increasing system efficiencies.
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ANNEXES
Annex 1 Keynote Address: His Excellency President Dr Hage G
Geingob, President of the Republic of Namibia
I greet you all!

I am indeed honored and privileged to be part of this historic and auspicious event, the National
Conference on Education, aimed at reviewing and re-aligning our education system to ensure
that it is relevant and demand driven to the needs of our country. It has indeed been over 10
years ago since we last had our national conference on education under the leadership of the
late Dr. Abraham Iyambo. May his soul continue to rest in eternal peace!
Director of Ceremonies,
The right to education is enshrined in Article 20 of the Namibian Constitution ‘‘All persons
shall have the right to education”, and the importance of arts and culture in Articles 19 and
21. Vision 2030 makes provision for Namibia to become a knowledge-based economy
through the implementation of the National Development Plans (NDPs). The key piece of
legislation governing the sector is the Basic Education Act, 2001 (Act No.16 of 2001), along
with its regulations and related policies, strategies and frameworks. Since independence, the
Government of the Republic of Namibia has always been committed to provide accessible,
equitable and inclusive quality education for a tolerant, skilled, productive and competitive
nation, for the prosperity of the Nation. In addition, in respect of the national legislative and
policy frameworks in education, Namibia is signatory to various United Nations Conventions
and global commitments related to education such as the Agenda for Sustainable Development
and its related Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the Continental Education Strategy
for Africa (CESA 2016-2025).
Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Participants,

This National Conference on Education (NCE) will be another opportunity to debate on the
status of education in Namibia, reflect on the impact of COVID-19 on education and identify key
levers of change to transform education in the short, medium and long term. The Conference
will build on the regional and national consultative processes held in May and June 2022. In
addition, the NCE will revisit the commitments made in the 2011 NCE and assess achievements
of agreed targets and identification of targets and processes which remained unattained to.
These will be reassessed and if found to remain relevant, will be added to the priority actions
which came through the regional and national consultations.
The national consultations on the Conference on Education have unearthed some key levers
on how we could transform education in a Namibian context:
• Inclusive, equitable, safe and healthy schools

The child is at the center of education. Therefore, all children, irrespective of socio-cultural and
economic background deserve access to equitable quality education. It is recommended that
attention be placed on early childhood education and the junior primary phases to ensure that
all children have mastered early literacy and numeracy skills by the end of Grade 3. Of crucial
importance is the enhancement of adult literacy skills and lifelong learning for sustainable
development. In addition, the Sector Policy on Inclusive Education should be effectively
implemented, addressing the needs, safety and protection of all learners, particularly those
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with disability, orphans and vulnerable children, including refugee and migrant children.
This should be achieved through the provision of qualified teachers, learning support
materials, assistive devices and emerging education technologies. Strengthen cross-sectoral
collaboration to improve access to nutrition in schools to ensure learner wellbeing.
• Financing of education
Fee-free education has provided access to many learners. Financing education is the
engine that drives quality and education transformation. The Namibian government provides
significant domestic resources to the education sector. Yet there are many resource constraints
in achieving quality education outcomes. In order to bridge the education financing gap there
is a call for meaningful private sector support to education through developing a national
framework on corporate social responsibility. Financial accountability and management
should be reinforced at all levels of the education sector to ensure efficient utilization of these
resources. Having achieved high levels of access, in order to ensure quality education, a
framework for parental and community resource mobilization should be developed.
Director of Ceremonies and the Nation at Large,

One important beacon on the time education line is 2004, with the release of the Vision
2030 which was operationalised for the first fifteen years by the Education and Training
Sector Improvement Programme, followed by the 2011 National Conference on Education.
The resulting resolutions were mainstreamed into the National Development Plans 4 and 5,
followed by the Harambee Prosperity Plans, I & II. All these are aligned to the aspirations
of Namibia to become a prosperous and industrialised Nation, developed by her human
resources, enjoying peace, harmony and political stability by 2030. This is our ultimate goal
and the only vehicle that will enable us to provide equitable and quality education for everyone.
Education being an important catalyst for social change and sustainable for any nation, the
GRN therefore makes sustainable investments in human capital to help Namibians acquire
skills that will enable them to positively contribute to the country’s development.
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Although, we see that during the period 1991 to 2015 we had an average annual growth of
4.4% and we reduced poverty levels from 28.7 % in 2009-10 to 17.4% in 2015-16, we are not
moving at the pace that we wish for. As of the year 2016, Namibia fell into recession, following
stagnation in trade and industries and since then, we have struggled to recover, as we were
faced with extreme drought in 2018 and 2019, prior to the impact of COVID-19 and now the
impact of the war in Ukraine. Yet there is this dual economy of a highly developed modern
sector, co-existing with the informal subsistence–oriented one. As a result, we are still lagging
behind in terms of where we want to be. We are ranked 117th among 157 countries on the
Human Capital Index, and this must be improved. Education plays a large role in the Human
Capital Index assessment, both in terms of enrolment and retention in school, in addition to
early grade literacy/numeracy. We have improved well from 2010 to 2017 (with our harmonised
test scores moving from 371 to 407 and at the same time our Human Capital Index score
improved from 0.39 to 0.45, whereas the world median stands at 0.57. So we still have a long
way to go.
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Good quality, universal education is critical for the development of our nation. It is a great
equaliser because it opens doors and creates opportunities never thought possible. It allows
someone to move from a deep rural area to become a teacher, a lawyer, or even President!
Through the Millennium Development Goals, early this century, the UN helped us focus on
Education for all or EFA. This was about getting all children in school – about access to school
for everyone. The net enrolment rate in 2010 stood at 96.9% at Junior Primary and 49.8%
at Senior Secondary, while in 2015 these reached 100% and 61.1% respectively. Then from
2015 we have been working towards the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs with the
emphasis to strengthen technical vocational training across all sectors. The SDGs now talk
more to life long access to education and to quality of education for all learners, irrespective
of their background, in line with what we also have set out for ourselves in HPPII, to leaving
no-one behind.
Dear Participants,
We need private sources of finance to assist with educating our nation but this cannot be
at the expense of equity. We cannot have a situation where the educational experience a
child has in Zambezi region is totally different from that in Erongo region. We cannot have
private schools excluding poorer learners, or learners they don’t want to cater for. Educating
the whole population is everyone’s responsibility.
The African Union’s Agenda 2063 commits all of us on this beautiful continent to ensure that we
have well educated citizens and a skills revolution underpinned by Science, Technology and
Innovation. This skills revolution must be built on strong foundations of literacy and numeracy.
Once children can read fluently, and solve mathematical problems, they can learn skills from
Senior Primary on-wards– skills which build competencies that result in service delivery or
production, which could also lead into entrepreneurial activity and ultimately develop into
self-employment and employment creation. However, we must not pursue these skills at
the expense of the abilities which underpin the essentials of being a citizen in a democratic
country and which are needed for our youth to be able to adapt to changes in technology
and work environments. These include the skills of critical thinking and reasoning; creativity,
creative thinking and innovation; ability to solve problems, and the ability to work in a team and
communicate effectively. In not so many words, our youth must be ‘global citizens’. UNESCO
summarises beautifully and simply what our youth need, in their 4 pillars of education:
“Learning to know, learning to do, learning to live and learning to be.”
Director of Ceremonies, Dear Participants,

I would like to use this opportunity to thank the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture, in
collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education, Technology and Innovation, and with the
support of our Development Partners, particularly, UNICEF, for having organized the 2022
National Conference on Education. Even with the educational challenges brought about by the
emergence of COVID-19, our government, through the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture
ensured that education continued, and we remained resilient, no matter the circumstances.
Therefore, as a nation, our efforts should be geared towards having systems and mechanisms
in place to be better prepared, in the eventuality of another disruptive and catastrophic event.
In conclusion, I wish you well in your endeavours this week to tangibly transform our education
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system. Let us own our education system and let us not be shy of taking risks. Our debates
and inputs should be rigorous, for the sake of the benefit of the Namibian Child and the
nation at large because transformation means breaking some things and taking people out of
their comfort zones. Therefore, my clarion call to you is, be open to new ideas, take criticism
positively and ultimately celebrate change and live that change.
I thank you.
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Annex 2 Opening Statement: Honourable Ester Anna Nghipondoka,
Minister of Education, Arts and Culture
What a great day! How often does one get to participate in such a unique event where we
can truly celebrate a partnership between government ministries, international development
partners, the civil society, parents, teachers, learners - the Media - that spans across almost
the length and breadth of the country. This is truly a home-grown and Namibian driven
partnership.
My sincere appreciation to all of you who made time to be with us for the rest of this week
to participate in the Conference under the theme “Transforming Education towards inclusion
and quality in the context of global challenges: re-imagining 2023 and beyond.”
This Conference is happening at a time when the global community, including Namibia, is still
grappling with what is called “triple shock”– COVID-19, Climate crisis and the Ukraine war –
These, continue to impact negatively on our economy, imposing significant socio-economic
challenges, particularly on the vulnerable households and their children.
Director of ceremonies, evidence shows that one of the sectors heavily and negatively
affected by these shocks is the education crisis. COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to
further regressing the education gains made over the past several years and has increased
inequalities in the provision of education disproportionately impacting the most vulnerable
children and those with disabilities. The AU/UNICEF report on transforming education in Africa
indicates that the disruption in learning caused by the COVID-19 pandemic – in which over
1 billion students globally stopped going to school at some point – has only exacerbated
the global learning crisis. In addition, girls, children from the poorest backgrounds, children
with disabilities and children on the move face significant difficulties in realizing their right to
education.
We also learn from the 2021 ‘State of the Global Education Crisis: A Path to Recovery report’
(published jointly by UNESCO, UNICEF, and the World Bank), that if we do not take stock of
our education system, this generation of students risks losing $17 trillion in lifetime earnings in
present value, or about 14 percent of today’s global GDP, because of COVID-19-related school
closures and economic shocks. This new projection far exceeds the $10 trillion estimate
released in 2020 and reveals that the impact of the pandemic is more severe than previously
thought,and has created what is now called the ‘learning poverty.’
Barring a few exceptions, the general trends from emerging evidence from the same report
suggested that the crisis has exacerbated inequities in education:
• Children from low-income households, children with disabilities, and girls were
less likely to access remote learning than their peers. This was often due to lack of
accessible technologies and the availability of electricity, connectivity, and devices, as
well as discrimination and gender norms.
• Younger students had less access to remote learning and were more affected by
learning loss than older students, especially among pre-school age children in pivotal
learning and development stages.
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• Evidence points to larger losses among girls, as they are quickly losing the protection
that schools and learning offers to their well-being and life chances.
We know that when a global crisis strikes, it poses a threat to the smooth provision of education
especially in countries where external resource mobilisation is already a challenge. When
challenges befall a country, it tests the country’s ability to cope and its resilience in terms of
ensuring continued quality and inclusive education.
According to the UN, by the middle of this century, Africa will be home to a billion children and
adolescents under 18 years of age. This will make up almost 40 percent of all children and
adolescents, worldwide. According to our population projections based on the 2011 census,
by 2030, Namibia will be home to a total of 1 185 846 persons under the age of 18 years
(Males: 598 128, Females: 587 718).
The World Bank had estimated in 2019 that 48 percent of children worldwide and 87 percent of
children in sub-Saharan Africa are ‘learning poor’, and even at the current rate of improvement,
in 2030, about 43 percent of children globally will still be learning-poor (AU/UNICEF).
Hence our gathering here this week assumes greater significance.
Your Excellencies, Right Honourable Prime Minister - allow me to give a brief on why we are
here.
Firstly, let me present some progress made in the implementation of the recommendations of
the 2011 National Conference on Education which took place at this very same venue, under
the theme “Collective delivery on the education promise: Improving the education system for
quality learning outcomes and quality of life.”
• Since the 2011 National Conference on Education, the Ministry has made great strides in
the provision of quality inclusive education for all children in Namibia. While challenges
remain, the country can celebrate those achievements. I do caution however that we
must not become complacent, but work harder to transform the system.
• The introduction of Universal Primary Education and Universal Secondary Education
in 2013 and 2016 respectively, has resulted in Namibia attaining universal access and
gender parity in education.
• The implementation of the Policy on the Prevention and Management of Learner
Pregnancy has resulted in another opportunity for the girl child to complete her
education and we are seeing many mother learners access education after giving birth.
• The Sector Policy on inclusive Education has resulted in an increase in access to
education for children with disabilities from 30,873 (Female 14,366 and Male 16,507) in
2015 to 105,750 (Female 46,756 and Male 58,994) in 2021.
• The Ministry is in the process of finalizing the Basic Education Regulations to commence
with the implementation of the Basic Education Act 2020, (Act No 3 of 2020), which
has been hailed as being at the centre of the children in Namibian schools.
• Irrespective of these successes, we know that COVID-19 has opened our eyes on
where we need to improve with urgency, to ensure continuity of education in an
efficient and effective way.
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This brings me to the second reason why we are here. We are here to also deliberate on how
we as a country, together with our partners in education, can help accelerate progress to
transform education, to attain Namibia’s Vision 2030 and the Sustainable Development Goals.
We first recognized that we are one of the few countries in Africa that allocates 21 percent
of our national budget to Education. Before we could get excited and pat ourselves on the
back, we noted that, this money does not necessary trickle down to achieve age and grade
appropriate learning outcomes.
Although evidence shows slight improvement in the Grade 1 repetition rates from 17.9 percent
in 2019 to 12.5 percent in 2021, this is still considered high. The major contributing factor
between 2019 and 2021, was the adjustment made to promotion requirements to remedy the
situation after the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.
We also acknowledged the fact that even though as a country we have adopted Universal
Access to Education, it was disheartening to learn that many of our children are still not able
to read, or do basic mathematics calculations by the end of the Junior Primary phase.
We also became concerned with the high rate of school leaving especially at secondary
school level, with 8 percent of learners leaving school in Grade 8 and 27 percent in Grade 10.
In 2021, a total of 15,239 learners (8,000 F and 7,239M) dropped out of school. Of these, 2,658
were due to learner pregnancy (EMIS, 2021), and the youngest being 11 years old. These high
dropout rates contribute to the already high youth unemployment rates, and consequently
poverty, which is currently reported to be around 41 percent.
Director of Ceremonies
Another concern we have which is informed by SACMEQ IV – although nearly 10 years old
now – is that while our Grade 6 learners are improving in reading and mathematics, our
learners only ranked 7th out of 13 countries in southern and East Africa in reading, and 9th in
mathematics.
This is not where we want to be. Only 35% of our Grade 6 learners could read at the level they
need to be able to, to tackle Grade 6 work confidently, and even more worrying, only about
7% of learners are doing mathematics at the expected level for Grade 6.
I mentioned earlier the effects of COVID-19 on learning, and how the pandemic necessitated
that we adjust and deliver learning differently, to enable our learners to continue schooling.
Although we are among the few countries which succeeded in keeping our schools open, the
reality we were faced with is that only 13 percent out of a total population of 777 132 learners in
2020, could access online learning portals when schools were closed for a short time in 2020.
It is against this background that my Ministry and I decided to embark on a nationwide

consultative and participatory process, covering all 14 regions of the country from 29 May to
13 June 2022 – to enable us to gather firsthand, opinions and suggestions from all education
stakeholders, on how we can/should improve our education system in Namibia.
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I therefore would like to applaud the over 2,500 youth, elderly, the parents, traditional,
community and religious leaders as well as representatives of organizations of persons with
disabilities, our social media followers and our development partners, who took time to engage
with us during the consultations. This shows a high level of ownership and demonstrating that
education is indeed a shared responsibility.
I also would like to thank the UN system in Namibia (especially UNICEF and UNESCO) for their
unwavering financial and technical support. Our gratitude also goes to all our sponsors who
contributed to make this conference a reality.
Ladies and Gentlemen

Do we, in Namibia, need to change the way we are preparing our future citizens for lifelong
learning? Yes, we do!
As I mentioned, we now have an opportunity through this conference, to not only acknowledge
the positive results we have accomplished, but collectively to assess our challenges, revitalize
our focus on the basic education goals to enhance access, quality, equity, democracy, and
lifelong learning.
Doing business unusual, we need to rethink how best we can build an education system that
is resilient to shocks, and where our learners can compete globally. We can achieve this by
also re-examining the way we have been allocating education resources, to ensure that we
use a pro-poor funding resource allocation formula.
Our conversations this week should also interrogate our current curriculum and look at ways
we can make it more appropriate for Namibia to bridge the digital gap and access, which is
currently limiting real-time access to information, communication, and technologies.
Equally important is our need to find workable ways of strengthening our pre-service education,
to produce future quality teachers who can address the need at local level while competing
at national and global level.
We recognize that we cannot do this alone. We need to strengthen meaningful partnerships and
collaboration with the private sector, which is ready to contribute towards the establishment
and sustenance of an education system which is ready to persevere through economic and
other future shocks.
Your Excellency
We are among the few countries in the world, and in Africa, that still enjoy a state of political
peace, stability, and responsive governance, which we are jealously guarding. However, we
are cognizant of the global challenges that have a direct and rippling effect on our social
sector and our economy.
Hence the imperative need for this conference to assess the vulnerability of our education
system; identify strategies and interventions that will enable us to reduce the risks and build
resilience, to better respond to current and future global challenges.
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Lest we forget, we are not here to produce a wishlist, but rather we are to come up with
tangible, actionable and fundable recommendations to be implemented in the short, medium,
and long term to achieve that transformative aspiration.
Our task is enormous but attainable. It all boils down to using the evidence we have, to
come up with a solid National Education Conference outcome document with clear priorities,
focused, and implementable, actionable recommendations.
This document will also inform our national commitment which will be presented by His
Excellency, President Hage G. Geingob, at the UN Transforming Education Summit in New
York next month.
To my team at the Ministry of Education Arts and Culture and our UN Colleagues – you all
played a major role through this journey. From the cleaner at the remotest school, to my
Deputy Minister, thank you for your steadfastness. We could not have made it without each
one of you. You are surely part of the building blocks of this education we want to transform,
and I sincerely thank you.
On behalf of my Ministry, I once again express my gratitude and wish for successful deliberations.
Thank you.
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Annex 3 Setting the Scene: Regional education recovery from
COVID-19, key regional education issues and possible solutions - Dr
Abhiyan Jung Rana (UNICEF ESARO)
Dr Rana shared a global perspective on the global education crisis and the impact of COVID-19
on progress in relation to Sustainable Development Goal 4 which is to “ensure inclusive and
equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.”
On behalf of the United Nations Children’s Fund, Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office
Education programme, I am very pleased to address this special session of the Namibia
National Conference on Education.
The overarching theme of this conference is timely because of the essential question: how
can governments, development partners, teacher organizations, schools, and communities
transform education towards inclusion and quality in the context of global challenges?
The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on people’s lives, lifestyles and
livelihoods is a shared reality for everyone. Some of our most challenging issues have been
heightened by the impact of the pandemic. However, not equally so. I feel profound sadness
at the enormous impact on the world’s children in particular, at the magnitude of the learning
crisis they are experiencing, and at the shocking inequality that persists.
We are witnessing the worst shock to education and learning in recorded history. Learning
poverty has increased by a third in low- and middle-income countries, with an estimated
70% of 10-year-olds unable to understand a simple written text, according to a new report
by development partners. This rate was 57 percent before the pandemic hit and 87% in Sub-
Saharan Africa. This means that even before COVID-19, 9 in 10 children aged 10 were unable
to read a simple text!
The projected increase in learning poverty as a result of the pandemic is smaller in sub-
Saharan Africa compared to other regions, as school closures in this region typically lasted
only a few months, however learning poverty now stands at an extremely high 89 percent
– the highest in any region of the world. This generation of students now risks losing US$21
trillion in potential lifetime earnings, or the equivalent of 17 per cent of today’s global GDP.
We are witnessing a global learning catastrophe of unprecedented magnitude, which the

pandemic has deepened. In many countries across the globe, it has erased basic, foundational
skills upon which every aspect of education is built. Children have forgotten how to read and
write; some are unable to recognize letters.
Without urgent remedial action, we know that this will carry serious lifelong consequences
in terms of health and well-being, future learning, and employment. Getting children back
into the classroom is just the first step. If we stop there, we will rob millions of children of the
chance to reach their full potential.
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Governments in Sub-Saharan Africa did comparatively well in keeping schools safe
and open during the pandemic. Namibia was no exception here, the country exhibited a
promising practice of strong coordination between health and education ministries, and
active engagement of multiple stakeholders in education to advocate for the prevention,
containment, and management of COVID-19 in school. These set a good base to strengthen
integrated planning and response.
However, trend estimates suggest that the number of out of school children in eastern and
southern Africa increased from 37 million prior to the pandemic, to 67 million in December
2021, with 30 million children not returning after school reopening. Due to school closures,
children and adolescents in the region have lost approximately 150 billion hours of in-person
learning; this in the long-term could mean half a trillion dollars lost in future earnings in Sub-
Saharan Africa.
Evidence is mounting that children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, children from
other disadvantaged groups including the 28.9 million children with disabilities, and children
affected by emergencies have suffered larger learning losses as a result of the pandemic. As
we continue to face the learning crisis, it is imperative to reimagine education!
The growth of technology and the increasingly broad range of actors providing online learning
means we can deliver learning opportunities anywhere, at any time.
Governments in our region continue to seize the opportunity to enhance investment in

digital technologies and meet the needs of the region’s growing digital economy. However,
our region faces numerous challenges to reimagine education! There is limited access to
ICT infrastructure, stark inequities in digital learning, and insufficient digital capacity among
teachers and instructors. The region also has an alarmingly high number of children with no
internet access. According to a recent UNICEF report, 9 in 10 children lack internet access at
home.
During school closures, while important efforts were made to enable continued, remote
learning, including through innovative approaches harnessing technology, nearly half of the
region’s children and adolescents were unable to access distance learning.
In Namibia, learning continuity has been ensured through both offline and online based
models through teachers as facilitators and motivators. Learners, including the most
vulnerable, were reached through curriculum materials for home use and scripted lessons
plans on TV and radio. The country is also a leader in the region to mitigate learning loss for
children with disabilities, by taking a number of actions such as adopting inclusive return to
school programmes, renovating a resource school, and establishing integrated school health
taskforces to monitor vulnerable and at-risk children.
These efforts by stakeholders to ensure learning continuity is applaudable, considering

the challenges around internet access in the country, which stands at less than half of the
Namibian population.
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However, while efforts were put in place to ensure that all learners return to school during
school reopening, 30,502 (3.8%) learners nationwide could not be traced after reopening and
over 4,000 girls fell pregnant during school closures. The proportion of Grade 5 children with
above the standard achievement is only 27 per cent as of 2018.
UNICEF is pleased to continue strengthening the global vision for digital learning for every
child in Namibia to make up for learning loss during school closures. This will be done through
the global cooperation agreement with non-profit research partnership (ED-Tech), and by
nurturing strategic partnership with the private sector, especially in the ICT sector to lower the
cost of access to devices and data.
The regional picture is a bleak one. Immediate action is a must to steer away from an even
more profound crisis. In parallel, however, systems also need to be strengthened, including to
transform education systems to become inclusive, and important reforms must be undertaken
to address the magnitude of learning poverty in the longer run. If not, the situation could get
even worse.
All governments must double down efforts to get every child into school. Education is a
fundamental human right. The multiple and intersecting barriers – including poverty, cultural
norms, and poor-quality teaching – preventing children from accessing their education, must
be broken down.
We advocate for stronger Early Childhood Education systems, with 10 per cent government
spending.
Committing to remedial programmes at scale is a start. Every child needs to be assessed

on their learning through formative assessments, and based on the results, they must have
access to quality, tailored, catch-up classes to recover what they’ve lost and beyond.
Teaching should be adjusted to the level children currently are at in their learning. Instructional
time must increase, and they must be given the training, support and resources they need
to improve instruction; equipped to deliver quality, pedagogical approaches that we know
reverse declining learning progress.
In our region, out-of-school rates among young people in lower-secondary school have
declined, but millions are still out of school, the majority of whom are girls. The reasons often
point to poverty, early pregnancy, gender-based violence, child marriage and social norms
that narrow aspirations for adolescent girls and young women. For youth with disabilities,
stigma and discrimination remain a major barrier for access to education, and transition from
learning to earning.
Across the region, inequalities based on income, poor relevance of curricula to labour
markets, a mismatch in skills to opportunities, a lack of support for transitions into work, are all
barriers further keeping young people from building a better future for themselves and their
communities.
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Considering that the number of young people is rapidly growing across the region, this poses
huge risks of mass unemployment and insecurity, but also great opportunities for capitalizing
on social, economic and political stability.
UNICEF’s investment in learning and skills development for young people, especially for
the most marginalized, is a priority for our efforts with partners around the second decade.
For example, in Namibia, UNICEF is working with the Ministries of Education and of Higher
Education, Training and Innovation to implement the Skills4Girls initiative. targeting in and out
of school adolescent girls and young women from marginalized communities.
Strengthening joint action and partnerships between public and private sector, leveraging
innovative solutions, and investing in young people’s learning and skills development is
paramount to unlock the potential of the future generation of leaders, entrepreneurs and
employers.
The alarm has been sounded many times. And yet, at a time when it’s needed the most,
education funding has and continues to fall desperately short. Globally, countries allocated
on average 3 per cent of their COVID-19 stimulus packages to education. In low- and lower-
middle-income countries, the allocation was less than 1 per cent. While countries scramble to
recover, they are overlooking the single, most-effective long-term recovery and sustainability
tool – education.
Countries in the region are far from allocating at least 20 per cent of their public expenditure
to education, as per the SDG4 framework for action recommendation. With the pandemic and
its disruption of education and growing learning losses, the needs have become much higher.
According to the World Bank, government spending on education as percent of GDP in Namibia
was reported at 9.6 per cent in 2021, which is higher than most countries in the region, but
a slight decrease by 0.5 per cent in budget allocation by MoEAC has been observed for the
2022 school year compared to 2021. Countries need to step up investments in education
and ensure efficient use of the resources available. UNICEF will continue to support countries
in undertaking comprehensive national fiscal analysis, building national capacity, developing
advocacy tools to influence budget and ensuring efficient and equitable allocations.
The challenges are huge. But here is the good news: we know the recipe to turn things around.
We have evidence of what works, and how to turn the tide against a longer-term learning
crisis. The RAPID framework developed by an alliance of global partners including UNICEF,
UNESCO and the World Bank, offers a menu of evidence-based interventions that education
systems can implement to help children recover lost learning, and to accelerate long-term
progress in foundational learning. Governments must make sure that education systems:
• Reach every child and keep them in school

• Assess learning levels regularly, including through formative assessments
• Prioritize teaching the fundamentals
• Increase the efficiency of instruction, including through catch-up learning that teaches
children at their true learning levels, as well as structured pedagogy
• Develop psychosocial health and well-being.
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Some countries in the region have recognized the urgency of the matter and have made
foundational literacy and numeracy the education system’s core business. Zambia has been
implementing a Catch-up programme with a focus on FLN through Teaching at the Right
Level. In Botswana, FLN, Teaching at the Right Level (TaRL) and structured pedagogy are an
integral part of the new national remediation. South Africa introduced a three-year Curriculum
Recovery Plan in 2020 to make up for lost time due to COVID-19, with a trimmed curriculum
and annual teaching plans focusing on FLN, as well as a focus on ‘assessment for learning’
as a teaching strategy. In Uganda and Madagascar, TaRL pilots are being scaled up; Angola,
Somalia and Eritrea are embarking on this approach.
In Namibia, continuous formative assessment during school term and at the end of each term,
carried out at national level, helps to address the learning needs of individual and group
learners and improve their competence. The country is also nationally implementing the
rationalized curriculum focusing on competencies as well as holistic development of the child.
Some of the exemplary measures taken include:
• Training for teachers to adapt their teaching to students’ learning levels

• Increase instruction time/for example, holiday classes in secondary
• Individualized self-learning programmes
• Tutoring and coaching schemes (e-learning materials currently under development
• Catch up programmes for children who have dropped out, including inclusive catch-up
programmes for children with disabilities.
At this crucial moment for children and adolescents, the United Nations will host a Transforming
Education Summit in September. This summit aims to mobilize greater political ambition,
commitment, and action to reverse the slide on SDG 4 and capitalize on innovations witnessed
during the COVID-19 crisis to make education more inclusive, resilient, and responsive to the
global challenges we face. This week’s national conference, and the regional consultations
implemented before it, are critical to developing a shared vision, commitment, and alignment
of action across constituencies to transform education in Namibia by 2030. Namibia is serving
as co-lead of the Thematic Action Track on “Inclusive, equitable, safe and healthy schools,” and
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Honorable Minister Ester Anna Nghipondoka
and her team for their global leadership and commitment in this effort.
Namibia’s global leadership on the Transforming Education Summit has already sparked
productive discussions among Ministers of Education and education stakeholders from around
the world at the pre-summit in June. It will continue to influence and inform global and regional
debates and commitments for transforming education in the lead-up to and at the summit in
September. I urge the MoEAC and all stakeholders present here today to translate the results
of the thematic action track work, the regional consultations, and this national conference into
concrete actions to improve learning and equity in Namibia. By doing so, Namibia will further
set an example to other countries in the region and around the world for how to transform an
education system to ensure that every child learns.
Namibia has a solid foundation to build on. This country made laudable efforts during the
COVID-19 response and thereafter. UNICEF has stood by the government of Namibia
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throughout. But the crisis is not over yet. Now is the time to double all efforts to transform
education: to reverse learning loss and reduce learning poverty for good. This may be the
most important and catalytic task to secure the wellbeing of an entire generation. UNICEF is
committed to partner with, and support the government of Namibia in this endeavor. Together,
let’s transform education by taking stock of efforts to recover learning losses, to reimagine
education systems and to revitalize national and global efforts to achieve SDG4.
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Annex 4 Way forward: Namibia’s Position Paper for the Transforming
Education Summit, Hon. Ester Anna Nghipondoka, Minister of
Education, Arts and Culture
A good afternoon you all!
I am indeed grateful for your commitment and dedication for having stayed on from the 1st
day of our Conference on “Transforming Education towards inclusion and quality in context of
global challenges: re-imagining 2023 and beyond”.
We have come to the end of our Conference and I can attest to you that I am truly happy for
all your open, honest and frank discussions during the week.
Yes, we are aware that we have challenges in education, and you heard during the week that
the global community is faced with the same education challenges, impacting on the ability to
attain the Sustainable Development Goals by the year 2030. We are indeed experiencing an
education crisis. However, that does not mean that as a country we have not made strides in
education. A lot has been achieved and we should also celebrate our successes.
As stated in my opening remarks, the aim of the Conference was to discuss, share and exchange
stimulating ideas, leading to recommendations to inform the review and re-alignment of our
education system, to ensure that it is relevant, and demand-driven to the needs of our country.
It is my profound delight to announce that 649 in-person and 2 868 online/virtual participants
took part in the four-day Conference. The in-person delegates came from all sectors across the
country. I am grateful for the active participation of Cabinet Ministers, members of parliament
and various ministry representatives; State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), institutions of higher
learning, governors; regional councils; representatives of the traditional leaders, church
leaders, youth groups, trade unions, people with disability, the cooperate world and NGOs
and UN Agencies including from outside Namibia.
Can we please raise and applaud ourselves for a job well done!
We covered the entire education system: from early childhood development, pre-primary,
primary, secondary education, vocational education and training; higher education; as well as
arts, heritage and culture; and adult and lifelong learning.
As outlined in the opening statement by His Excellency the President, the right to education
is enshrined in Article 20 of the Namibian Constitution ‘‘All persons shall have the right to
education,” and the importance of arts and culture in Articles 19 and 21.
Since independence, the Government of the Republic of Namibia has always been committed
to providing accessible, equitable and inclusive quality education for a tolerant, skilled,
productive and competitive nation, for the prosperity of the Nation. The Conference deliberated
on all of these strategic issues.
110
Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Participants,
As you heard on Tuesday, the National Conference on Education, which started with regional
consultative processes in May and June 2022, signifies our government’s commitment to
democratic and mass participatory principles on educational issues and decisions affecting
the nation.
You will indeed agree with me that the youth was at the centre of the exercise, considering
that the Conference was preceded by the Youth Forum, involving 82 learners from schools
serving different communities in Khomas region to enhance contribution. I was proud to see
the courage and determination of our students and learners to raise their voices during the
week. And I say keep it up, because the future is in your hands.
It is our understanding that transformation is only possible through the participation of various
stakeholders in planning and in educational processes.
The greater the buy-in from stakeholders, as they play a large role throughout the decision-
making process, the stronger the likelihood of positive outcomes, enriched ideas and broader
awareness of the decisions made. This also strengthens the trust among education leaders,
communities and other stakeholders.
In my view, our stakeholders possess the resources, information, and opportunities, the
love, care and wisdom needed to support the goals of the education system - creating the
conditions for our children and the youth to thrive now, and in the future.
Director of ceremonies,
As I already mentioned, we had very rich discussions and debates during the past four days.
I am inspired by the local, national experiences and innovative ideas shared by various
participants from the regions, particularly the voices from the youth groups who are the future
of this country.
The participation of people with disabilities was indeed incredible - you demonstrated that
“nothing about us, without us.” I call on you to continue to be involved.
The issues we have discussed include among others, systemic transformation initiatives
such as keeping the child at the center of education. The understanding is that all children,
irrespective of socio-cultural and economic background deserve access to equitable quality
education.
In addition, the Sector Policy on Inclusive Education should be effectively implemented,

addressing the needs, safety and protection of all learners, particularly those with disability,
orphans and vulnerable children, including refugee and migrant children. This should be
achieved through the provision of qualified teachers, learning support materials, assistive
devices and emerging education technologies.
The Ministry will further collaborate with the Ministry of Higher Education, Training and
innovation, as well as with institutions of higher learning to address the issues around the
supply and demand of teachers.
111
Further, we need to strengthen cross-sectoral collaboration to improve access to nutrition in
schools to ensure learner wellbeing.
Our detailed deliberation, reflections, and shared data and research output will indeed become
the key levers of change to transform education in the short, medium and long term. Now that
the Conference has come to an end, what will be the way forward?
1. A comprehensive report on outcomes of the 2022 National Conference on Education

(NCE), including the state of education snapshot Regional Profiles will be shared, and
deliberated at Cabinet level to give further guidance on the implementation.
2. Recommendations of the NCE will then inform the priority areas contributing towards
strategic themes and objectives of the Ministry’s next Strategic Plan for 2023-2028 to
be based on the NPD 6.
Based on the presentation from my Executive Director, Ms Steenkamp, the transformative

priority areas will require focused actions at all levels: Ministerial, executive, regional and
school level as well as public private partnerships, and further collaboration with the UN
and development partners. Once again, these priorities will constitute the core of Namibia’s
Position Paper which our Head of State will deliver at the Transforming Education Summit,
namely:
• Innovative financing and domestic resource mobilization.

• Early grade literacy and numeracy with a strong focus on foundational literacy.
• Access to inclusive digital technologies.
• Improve office efficiencies, and
• transformation of teacher training.
Director of Ceremonies, Dear Participants,

In conclusion, I wish to call on stakeholders to study the final report for the Conference to be
released in the near future, and implement the action steps in the subsequent Strategic Plan,
in order to transform our education system and address the challenges that we face.
Let us own our education system and let us not be shy of taking risks. I will continue to stress
that education is a shared responsibility.
The Ministry will take the immediate necessary steps to review regulatory frameworks, as well
as conduct a final verification exercise of the Regulations of the approved Basic Education Act,
2020 (Act No 3 of 2020), to create the conditions required to improve education.
Our vision is to make Namibia’s basic education system, arts, heritage, culture and lifelong
learning one of the finest in Africa.
I thank you.
112
Annex 5 Cabinet Resolution on the report of the 2022 Namibia
REPUBLIC OF NAMIBIA
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, ARTS AND CULTURE

Tel: +264 61 - 2933523 Private Bag 13186
Fax: +264 61- 253671 Windhoek
Email: Doleen.Platt@moe.gov.na Namibia
Enquires: D. Platt WINDHOEK
Ref No: 2/4/14
12/09/2022
RETYPED/PARAPHRASED
CABINET ACTION LETTER
SUBJECT: REPORT OF THE 2022 NAMIBIA NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON

EDUCATION
Cabinet at its 15th /06.09.22/005 meeting:
RESOLVED:
1. That Cabinet takes note of the National Conference of Education (NCE) Report and its
recommendations indicated in the table below and directs the Ministry of Education, Arts
and Culture, in conjunction with the Ministries of Higher Education, Technology and
Innovation and Finance to propose funding modalities recommendation for the
consideration of Cabinet within a period of two (2) months:
1 Inclusive, equitable, safe and healthy schools

Short 1. Strengthen inclusivity addressing all needs, safety and protection of
Term all learners, particularly those with disability, orphans and vulnerable
children, including refugee and migrant children
2. Improve access to the National School Feeding Programme with
consistent and nutritious meals to ensure learner well-being and
retention in school, including strengthening of Home Grown School
Feeding Programme
Medium 3. Strengthen educational foundation for all learners, attention will be
Term placed on early childhood education and the junior primary phases to
ensure that all children have mastered early literacy and numeracy
skills by the end of Grade 3 (Lever II)
Long 4. Develop and implement regional maintenance plans for schools and
Term hostels with initial focus on rural schools, water, sanitation and
All official correspondences must be addressed to the Executive Director

electricity
2. Learning and skills for life, work and sustainable development
Short 5. Strengthening and expand the Family Literacy programme to
Term improve parental engagement in supporting their children’s literacy.
6. Enlist technical assistance for crafting and register unit standards on
the National Qualifications Framework (NQF)
Medium 7. Avail funding for qualified teachers for arts, physical education and
Term sports and the provide for learning and teaching materials in arts,
physical education and sports and train coaches specialising in
training youth with disability.
8. Create conducive environment for youth, including clubs for youth
with disability, who would pursue careers in sport and arts (fine art
and performing arts, inclusive of music), lifelong learning and up-
skilling of workers for sustainable development, ensuring closer
linkages between school and work.
Long 9. Strengthen and review TVET curriculum to popularise and ensure
Term responsiveness to the needs of students, the economy, the impact of
climate change and the need of sustainable development, including
the mainstreaming of traditional arts and crafts.
10. Establish postgraduate education qualification for graduates of
Vocational Training Centres (VTCs) to become teachers of pre-
vocational, vocational subjects and entrepreneurship.
11. Collaborate closely with National Youth Service to office the
Namibia Qualification Authority (NQA) accredited out-of-school
courses for small enterprises, allowing youth and adults to enter the
semi-formal economy as hairdressers, bakers, beauticians, sausage-
and meat producers, web developers, graphic designers, etc.
3. Teachers, teaching and the teaching profession
Short 12. Establish urgently a Professional Teacher Regulatory Body, which
term should, amongst other issues, focus on the professionalization of
teaching. This process has started and needs to be expedited with a
clear development plan follow.
13. Establishment of a high level liaison committee between the two
Ministries of Education, Arts and Culture and Higher Education,
Technology and Innovation and the teacher training institutions to
align the training of teachers with the requirements of schools and
the revised curriculum.
14. Reconceptualise, strengthen and budget for continuous professional
development for teachers to move from centre-based training to
communities of practice, reinforced with classroom-based support,
learning support inclusive of Information Communication
Technology (ICT) literacy and capacity building.
Medium 15. Align the supply and demand of teachers to create greater synergies
Term between pre-service education institutions and the Ministry, as well
as the Human Resources Development needs of the country.
Long 16. Reduce Teacher: learner ratios to allow teachers to focus on the
114
Term individual (and diverse special education) needs of learners in line
with the post-provisioning norms.
17. Employ recent school and university graduates as teaching assistants
on an affordably stipend.
18. Train all teachers on how to attend to and teach learners with special
needs.
19. Train subject teachers for pre-vocational, vocational and technical
subjects.
4. Digital Learning and transforming (Lever III)
Short 20. Provide access to assistive devices and technologies for learners with
Term disabilities.
21. Build digital literacy capacity of all teachers and develop training
programmes to inspire confidence in the use of emerging digital
technologies.
Medium 22. Acquire through an incremental approach to achieving universal
Term access to education appropriate technologies for schools and
introduce new technologies as supply of relevant devices, with
training in their use and a maintenance plan.
23. Provide electricity to the 12.8 percent of schools without, by
connecting to the national grid or preferably provided with solar
systems.
24. Provide through an incremental approach free and secure access to
Wi-Fi and connect all schools, focusing on unconnected areas in the
poorest parts, leveraging the United Nations Children’s Fund
(UNIEF) GIGA and International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
partnership and strategy, and working with local
Telecommunications companies.
Long 25. Create a dig ital learning hub for all learners, including unique
Term identifiers and tracking of learners, supporting mental health and
psycho-social support to enhance psycho-social, health and well-
being so that every child is “school” ready to learn by the age of 7
and beyond.
5 Education Financing (Lever I)
Short 26. Conduct a ‘real’ costing exercise for provision of quality education
Term (bottom-up costing through identifying cost drivers and their
multipliers) with identifying financing gaps and work on closing
those gaps.
27. Establish a National Funder’s Forum (or re-activate FENSI, “Friends
of Education Special Initiative) so that donors and local corporates
can align their funding of education, there is a need for meaningful
private sector support to education through developing a national
framework on corporate social responsibility (CRS).
28. Establish preferential rates for services such as water, electricity and
internet for schools and schools should be able to access free
banking services;
29. Create awareness of the benefits of cost-sharing model of ‘fee free
115
education’ amongst parents and guardians, as education cannot be
regarded as totally free endeavour and research more cost-effective
ways of funding managing school hostels while protecting learner’s
rights to access to education;
30. Operationalise the Accelerated Infrastructure Development Plan and
conduct research on new infrastructure development programmes
needs by schools and Community Learning Development Centres
(CLDs);
31. Revisit the Public Expenditure Review (2017) and its
recommendations as well as the current usage of funds to identify
inefficiencies and improve guidance for effective resource utilization
as well as ensure school accounts are audited to monitor the usage of
funds and embed monitoring and evaluation of funding into the
Ministry processes; and
32. Undertake a review of organizational operations and personnel
structures to align these to obtain increased efficiency and in relation
to finances, responsibilities and functions. (Lever IV)
Medium 33. Reinforce financial accountability and management should at all
Term levels of the education sector efficient utilisation of existing
resources;
34. Explore and operationalise innovative forms of funding education
such as Development and Social Impact Bonds; and
35. Liaise with Ministry of Justice and legal drafters to develop a
national Corporate Social Investment (CSI) Act, with education as a
priority to mobilize domestic resources, in line with CSI, i.e. income
from fishing quotas and mining license grants be made available to
the education sector, or that the sector is allocated fishing quotas and
mining shares, or benefit from there.
Long 36. Allow and regulate schools to fund-raise and develop a national
Term school procurement strategy to improve inefficiencies in planning
(align school and Ministry funding cycles) and procurement.
37. Schools must post their income and expenditure on notice-boards for
parents, learners and community members to see in order to build
confidence through transparency, and share these at given platforms;
38. Create a fund for emergencies that does not need to return unspent
funds to Treasury, but if unused can be used for other priorities;
39. Design and implement systematic and consistent budget tracking
aligned with the new organizational structure; and
40. Renovate Arts, Culture and Heritage Sites throughout Namibia and
construct Community Learning and Development Centres (at least
two (2) per Region, throughout all fourteen (14) regions of Namibia.
2. That Cabinet approves the establishment of a High Level National Conference on

Education Task Force, comprising of Executive Directors/Accounting Officers of the
Ministries of Education, Arts and Culture; Higher Education, Technology and Innovation
(Institutions of Higher Learning); Information and Communication Technology; Sport,
116
Youth and National Services; Finance; Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social
Welfare; National Council of Higher Education; and National Planning Commission to
oversee the implementation of the levers of change, through respective Technical
Committees;
3. That Cabinet further directs the High Level National Conference on Education Task
Force to identify and prioritize key recommendations (levers of change) and propose an
implementation plan for the consideration of the 16th (2022) Deliberative Cabinet,
scheduled for 13 September 2022 and
4. That Cabinet directs the Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture to incorporate the
proposed recommendation on Education contained in the Final Report of Task Force on
the Fourth Industrial Revolution to the levers of change, in order to enhance the quality of
Education.
IMPLEMENTER: Education, Arts and Culture

Higher Education, Training and Innovation
Finance
AFFECTED: Information and Communication Technology

Sport, Youth and National Service
Gender Equality, Poverty Eradication and Social Welfare
National Planning Commission
117
Republic of Namibia
2022

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Republic of Namibia

Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture

National Conference on Education

Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture

Ministry of Education Namibia UN House, 38 - 44 Stein Street

Tel. +264-61-293-3111 Private Bag 13329

© MoHSS, UNICEF Namibia, 2022

Transforming education towards inclusion and quality in the

We appreciate the commitment anddedication of all delegates and participants in ensuring

While we have faced some challenges since the last

The NCE was hosted under the theme “Transforming

My hope is that together we will own the NCE-2022

Track 1: Inclusive, equitable, safe and healthy schools;

These processes provided an opportunity to mobilize greater political ambition, commitment,

1. Review the resolutions and directives of the 2011 National Conference on

1. Proposed recommendations to improve innovative resource allocation to the

An overarching resolution from the NCE-2022 is that the implementation of the

1.1 Statement: Minister of Education, Arts and Culture, Honourable

• Producing a well-equipped teacher, with ICT skills;

1.2 Keynote Address: His Excellency President Dr. Hage G Geingob,

• Delivered by His Excellency Vice President Nangolo Mbumba

• Dr Abhiyan Jung Rana, Regional Adviser for Education (ESARO)

“...to ensure inclusive

• A review of the 2011 Education Conference: What have we achieved?

2.1 Plenary: Review of the 2011 National Conference on Education

• Ms Hileni Amukana, (Director, Oshana, MoEAC)

• Universal Primary and Universal Secondary Education, which resulted in

Concerns which continue to impact the education sector include:

2.2 Plenary: Critical issues generated from the regional stakeholder

• Mr Mzingisi Gqwede (Director, Adult Education. MoEAC)

Key concerns raised:

• Weak school management undermining positive learning outcomes,

Proposed Education Transforming Actions:

• Stronger provision for learners with disabilities including school

Key concerns raised:

• Absence of a comprehensive Namibian reading system at junior

Proposed Education Transforming Actions:

• Strengthen and increase early childhood education programmes.

Key concerns raised:

• Mismatch between demand and supply of teachers, including

Proposed Education Transforming Actions:

• Tertiary institutions should develop and implement a Bachelor of

Key concerns raised:

• Absence of an ICT Policy for education.

Proposed Education Transforming Actions:

Key concerns raised:

• The concept of ‘free education’ took away parental/community

Proposed Education Transforming Actions:

• Develop a framework for effective financial control measures for

• Mr. Cavin Muchila (Director, Planning, MoEAC)

• Promoting access to quality education, equity and inclusion from pre-primary

3.1 Plenary: Progress on the professionalisation of teachers

• Ms Loide Shaanika (Secretary General, NANTU), and

• Mr Nicolaas Eiman (Deputy Director, PQA, MoEAC)

3.2 Research Papers: Impact of the Reformed Curriculum and

• Dr. Joshua Matati (Senior Lecturer, UNAM), and

• Ms Loide Shaanika (Secretary General, NANTU)

Delegates were reminded of the fragmented education system inherited at Namibia’s

Some post-independence achievements in education were hihhlighted, including several