Walvis hopes for smooth pupil placement

•TAATI NIILENGE THE inspector of the Walvis Bay education circuit Monica Gawises says her office is already hard at work trying to make sure that every pupil on this year’s Grade 1 list will find a place in school.

Gawises said a new school was built at Kuisebmond, and will be called the Kuisebmond Project School. It is situated on the school grounds of the Immanuel Ruiters Primary School, with eleven classrooms.

The school will accommodate an additional 720 Grade 1 pupils from the list of applicants received last year. Four other Grade1 classes will also be offered at the Flamingo Primary School this year.

“We hope to have a smooth first week of school which will iron out the problems that we normally have at the beginning of the school year,” she said.

The main concern for this year is that of Grade 10 repeaters, who had already started flocking to the inspector’s office for space. There is no space for more pupils in Grade 10 classrooms, as schools at Walvis Bay are full to capacity.

Parents are advised to enrol their children either at Namcol, or to try other towns in the region.

Gawises said she is also concerned about the fact that parents do not attend meetings, and thus miss out on important information which can improve the performance of especially Grade 10 and Grade 12 pupils.

“There are concerns about alcohol and drug abuse, and other errand behaviour at schools, and teachers also want a platform where they can ask parents to assist them with their children. School meetings are organised, but only a handful of parents show up. The community does not care at all. These children can only pass if we all work together.”

She further wished all learners a productive educational year, and urged secondary school learners to consider their future and stay away from social evils.