Pupils taught while sitting on floor

“Honestly speaking, this is terrifying news to me. I have never heard of it . . . I will consult my chief regional officer now, so that we can investigate the issue, and I will provide feedback,” Endjala said this week.Without chairs and desks, more than 200 grade 9 and 10 pupils at IK Tjimuhiva Combined School spend their school days on the floor. The pupils also have to deal with an overcrowded hostel.Teachers at he school bemoaned the situation, saying on top of this, the school is experiencing a staff shortage. Gehas Iiyambo, a teacher at the school and member of the school board, on Tuesday said the school has had a lack of desks and chairs since last year. “We have five Grade 10 classes at school with 40 to 50 pupils each. During the national exams last year, we had to use other grades' chairs and desks,” he said.Iiyambo, who has been teaching at the school for a year, said the school has not received any furniture from the government since last year.“The ministry says we must admit all the pupils without supplying the furniture for them,” he said.He said the school was built to accommodate 700 pupils, but has 1 264 enrolled, of which 1 132 are accommodated at the school's hostel. “The hostel is overcrowded. Parents buy mattresses and pupils have to share beds. The majority of them sleep on the floor due to a shortage of beds,” Iiyambo said.He said the school is also understaffed, and its dining hall is not furnished.“There is not a single bench or table in the hall. There are only two cooks at the school kitchen, and they have to cook for more than 1 000 pupils,” he said.“Some pupils are forced to eat bread at lunch because two people cannot cook for more than 1 000 pupils,” Iiyambo said.He said the school has a borehole supplying it with water.“Sometimes the tanks run dry because the borehole does not have water,” he said.FINDING SOLUTIONSThe school has contacted other schools in the region, asking for their old desk frames to be restored. “We are now buying wood to put on these frames, but we do not have funds. Financially we are struggling,” Iiyambo said.He said the education directorate only told them they are aware of the situation, when contacted for assistance.Apart from the existing challenges, the school's science laboratory is unequipped, and its library has no books, Iiyambo said.Mbendeka Temistokles, the school's acting principal, this week said the school's circumstances are not new, but became worse when the school received 22 new classrooms last year, which are still unfurnished.“We knocked at every door, starting with the inspector, director and the planning committee. They said they are planning to procure chairs and tables for us, but we do not know when they will deliver,” he said.Temistokles said the situation is challenging to both teachers and pupils.“The children are not performing 100% any more. They are uncomfortable, and there is nothing we can do,” he said.NO ANSWERSContacted for comment, the executive director of education, arts and culture, Sanet Steenkamp, referred The Namibian to Omusati region's education director and the chief regional officer.Chief regional officer Gervasius Kashindi said he does not handle school matters.“Talk to the regional education director. He is the one who deals with such issues,” he said.Omusati education director Ben Eiseb declined to comment. He said he runs a “very busy office, and Omusati is the only region in the country with 12 circuits”.