Hermann Gmeiner Inaugurates New Classrooms

• Chris Ehrmann”WE couldn’t imagine in our wildest dreams that it would look like this now,” said Principal Jani van Greunen.

On 17 July, the Hermann Gmeiner Primary School held its inauguration for the introduction of the new kindergarten class.

Opening with a prayer by Pastor Chris Jonathan, the event included singing of the national anthem by pupils, as well as some short plays done by the pupils and handing over awards to those who helped the school out.

Also attending the event was Dirk Cloete, the school board chairperson.

“As we look to the promise of tomorrow – for this school, for our country and for this region of our continent – we realise that long journeys start with small but solid steps, and that each success we achieve will contribute to the future progress,” he said.

The project started in October and November 2014 and recently finished this year. The project cost N$1.6 million to build, and according to the principal, the funding was a little bit tighter than what was expected.

“When we got the estimate price, we were stuck because it was double the estimate that we had,” said Van Greunen. “We also decided to approach the parents and we explained the situation to the parents.”

Van Greunen said that the parents’ response was incredibly helpful. She said that not only did the parents immediately pay the rest of their outstanding balances for 2014, but they also immediately started to register for 2015 so the school could get the extra money in sooner.

“The parents really assisted in this venture,” she said.

There are still some parts of the school that are not finished including the ceilings, pavement and a jungle gym for the pupils to play on.

“The only part that is left of our dream is, of course, the jungle gym,” she said.