Teachers’ union raps education system

WAS the Cambridge education system implemented to jeopardise the success of the Namibian nation? This is what the Teachers’ Union of Namibia (TUN) wanted to know yesterday, addressing the media on the worrying state of education in the country.

The TUN, the alternative union to the Namibia National Teachers’ Union (Nantu), said that Namibia needs to do a proper analysis and discover what the real “rights and wrongs” of the current education system is, and build a country-specific system accordingly. “Since its inception in 1993, the (Cambridge) system never delivered satisfactory results for the Namibian nation to be proud of,” TUN president Gert Jansen said.”The Cambridge system was thrown out of England, but here we grab it with both hands,” Vice-president Chanville Mackrill agreed.The union called on Government to look to South Africa as an example, and use whatever is useful from the current system and integrate it with new ideas.”Look at the type of students produced in the former (South African matriculation) system,” Mackrill said.”If that system was worked on and Namibianised, we would have much better candidates graduating.”The union blamed overcrowded classes on urbanisation and poor planning, saying that new suburbs spring up all over but without any schools to accompany them.”It all boils down to the fact that Government must build more schools,” Jansen said.He claimed that money received by Government from development partners is often sent back to them due to a lack of proper planning, instead of being used on infrastructure.”When was the truth ever disloyal,” the union leaders asked, saying that “the time had come for true patriots of the Namibian nation to acknowledge problems when they exist and work on it, rather than turn a blind eye and suffer the consequences.”Finally, the union suggested that Government outsource education to the private sector, saying that this could be one solution to the current state of affairs.”Since its inception in 1993, the (Cambridge) system never delivered satisfactory results for the Namibian nation to be proud of,” TUN president Gert Jansen said.”The Cambridge system was thrown out of England, but here we grab it with both hands,” Vice-president Chanville Mackrill agreed. The union called on Government to look to South Africa as an example, and use whatever is useful from the current system and integrate it with new ideas.”Look at the type of students produced in the former (South African matriculation) system,” Mackrill said.”If that system was worked on and Namibianised, we would have much better candidates graduating.”The union blamed overcrowded classes on urbanisation and poor planning, saying that new suburbs spring up all over but without any schools to accompany them.”It all boils down to the fact that Government must build more schools,” Jansen said.He claimed that money received by Government from development partners is often sent back to them due to a lack of proper planning, instead of being used on infrastructure.”When was the truth ever disloyal,” the union leaders asked, saying that “the time had come for true patriots of the Namibian nation to acknowledge problems when they exist and work on it, rather than turn a blind eye and suffer the consequences.”Finally, the union suggested that Government outsource education to the private sector, saying that this could be one solution to the current state of affairs.