Trainees boycott English classes

MORE than 20 second-year trainees at the Valombola Vocational School are boycotting classes in protest against a compulsory English course.

The students, who are training for careers in the hospitality industry, claim that they were told recently that they had to pass an English exam at the end of the year. This leaves them only three months to prepare for the exam, while other students have been following the course since the beginning of the year.In a petition handed over to the school’s head of administration, Fillemon Dula, the students said they would not attend the English lessons and demanded a meeting with the principal, Titus Malangu.However, Dula told The Namibian that the students were aware that English was a compulsory subject.He said the principal had told trainees who refused to study English to bring their parents to school to discuss the matter, but they refused.Dula said if the students refused to attend classes, the school management would have no option but to suspend their studies until the problem had been discussed with their parents and a solution had been found.This leaves them only three months to prepare for the exam, while other students have been following the course since the beginning of the year.In a petition handed over to the school’s head of administration, Fillemon Dula, the students said they would not attend the English lessons and demanded a meeting with the principal, Titus Malangu.However, Dula told The Namibian that the students were aware that English was a compulsory subject.He said the principal had told trainees who refused to study English to bring their parents to school to discuss the matter, but they refused.Dula said if the students refused to attend classes, the school management would have no option but to suspend their studies until the problem had been discussed with their parents and a solution had been found.